


Adverse Effects of Quinine-Chan

by ZayNik24



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi Keiji Is So Done, Angst, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, Character Death, Developing Friendships, F/M, Grandma Always Knows, Hopefully Regular updates, I Don't Even Know, I think I'm funny, Kozume Kenma Needs a Hug, Kuroo Tetsurou is Scared of Thunder Storms, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Fucking Nerd, Kuroo likes cats, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Sir Reginald McFartFace Likes Kuroo Better, Slow Burn, Some Fluff, Team Mom Yaku Morisuke, Teru/Tetsu Tuesdays, They're All Kinda Dumb, Well Kinda Medium Burn, Who let me do this, i love these idiots, shenanigans ensue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:54:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25425724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZayNik24/pseuds/ZayNik24
Summary: Broskies... Idek tbh😂I had the idea for a Kuroo Story and we sprinted with this bitchWe got nerdy Kuroo who talks to his grandma about crushes and just needs some loveWe got Kenma being anti social and bad at feelingsYakuLev may make and appearance ;)You want BokuAka? You'll probably see someMC (you or whatever OC you use for these inserts) Moves a lot and struggles in using the usual "fuck off" vibes once interacting with a handful of idiots in your class. Mutual Pining and insisting you totally don't have a thing for the Volleyball Captain ensue. Friendships blossom. Fears are explored. Your single father manages to snag the heart of mother of the rival team Fukurodani. Even more shenanigans follow.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader, kozume kenma/ oc
Comments: 18
Kudos: 74





	1. Quinine: A Bitter Remedy Used To Treat Malaria

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to post my Terushima and Kuroo stories on Tuesdays which shall be dubbed Teru/Tetsu Tuesdays. 
> 
> Welcome to Chaos
> 
> This is the first chapter
> 
> may double post today.... Idk yet no promises
> 
> I hope you enjoy these dumb idiots being idiots
> 
> OH! And theres a Spotify playlist for this called Adverse Effects If your able to copy and paste this it the link lmao
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7kBwkU7jwhNecY8rVRUdTw?si=frfsRT0iTguWmAj-gkV7WA

You walked to the front of the school and looked around feeling a bit overwhelmed. Another move. That had been one every year for the last seven consecutive years. Was it worth it to even try and make friends? You'd probably just have to move in a few months anyway. 

You sighed and adjusted your bag's strap as it started to slide down your shoulder. The catholic school-girl uniform wasn't as hard to tweak as you thought it would be. Black patterned tights; a thick black leather belt; a choker and necklace; rings; and chunky, black, platform, boots in tandem with your messy (h/c) hair in a bun was enough to give the "Fuck off" vibe. 

Then again, it could just be hard work you put into perfecting your RBF. You smiled proudly at your effective muting of the white top and bright red skirt and tie. If the dress code was lax enough, you fully planned to tie the blazer around your waist as you were already overheating in layers so late in spring.

Your mental planning came to an end when a figure approached you. "Are you the new kid," the boy asked. "Are you the welcoming committee," you questioned eyeing him, to size the boy up. Admittedly he was tall. Golden, cat-like, eyes maintained a steady and unbothered gaze through black hair that stuck up in every direction including in front of one of his own eyes. 

"I asked first Quinine-chan," he remarked. "Does my bitter nature make you nervous and confused," you asked through a sweet smile holding back the venom in your voice. He quirked an eyebrow in intrigue.

You made several conclusions in the brief interaction.

Conclusion one: He was undeniably hot.

Conclusion two: He was way too confident and comfortable with your personality not to be a player.

Conclusion three: He was smarter than he wanted people to know. 

Conclusion four: He was the type you could keep a casual conversation with but nothing else or you'd only get hurt.

"Most people assume I'm calling them a nickname from a different language... like french," he noted. You nodded not intending to placate him any longer. "That's nice. Now, where the hell do I go," you asked. "Right to business," he asked chuckling. "Well, as riveting as this conversation is, I probably have a shit ton of work to catch up on and I'd prefer to finish it in time to graduate," you pointed out. 

"You've moved before," he asked as you walked. "You ask so many questions. You know, curiosity killed the cat," you noted. "But satisfaction brought him back," he countered. You rolled your eyes trying to bite down the smile fighting its way on your face. 

"That was terrible," you noted as he started walking. "It cracked the resting bitch face," he noted proudly. "Should I just call you grandpa or the weird uncle," you asked. "Kuroo is fine. Or if you're feeling really daring you can yell at me by my given name Tetsurou," he remarked, "And you?" "(Y/l/n)," you answered. "Just one name? Like Cher, or Madonna, or Prince," he asked. "I believe Prince went by just a symbol for a time," you countered. He waved it off lazily.

"Okay, third and second year science wing. Third years typically stay on the ground floor and second years are forced to suffer the stairs to the second floor. If anyone tells you there's a third floor they're trying to prank you and lock you out on the roof. That way is the first year wing aka Freshman Academy. All the fresh meat stick together before the herd thins out and heads this way. Higher level classes on the ground floor with with the average kids forced to use the stairs. Opposite freshman academy is the language focused wing. Same as the science and math wing," he started. 

"Science and math? You guys are small enough to combine the two? Cute," you commented. He half smiled rolling his eyes before continuing, "Anyway, second years second floor and third years on ground. And this is the administration office. Principal, VP, secretary, nurses' office, school psychologist, security office. All of which are right here dead center to the bridge. We call the science wing the bridge. Opposite the bridge is the library and club rooms, and in the center of the ring of classes is the courtyard."

Your head was spinning but you were pretty sure you had a vague idea of everything. "Need me to repeat anything," he asked with a knowing smirk. It was like a ring, granted a pretty square ring with colors you doubted anyone would admire too fondly if placed on their hand, but a ring none the less. Your petty gene kicked in at the challenge, "No, I think I'll manage. Fun is opposite work, language opposite to babies and grass in the middle. Oh! And the law sits where the diamond wound go." "You catch on quick," he said impressed as you walked into the administration office. 

~~~~~

You glanced over the schedule you were handed. You walked back out to Kuroo to wait for the passes to class. "Where am I bringing you," he asked. You turned the paper over for him to see. A soft chuckle of disbelief came from his mouth. "What," you asked. "Don't worry about it. You'll see soon," he said. "What? You going to murder me," you asked. "You wish," he remarked. "I don't like the sound of that," you commented. "Let's go quinine-chan," he said guiding you out. "Touch me again and I cut off whatever makes contact with me," you warned. He removed his hand from your shoulder and held both up in surrender.

~~~~~

You walked to the class room and Kuroo walked to the teacher handing the pass and saying something quietly. You watched trying to hide your own nerves. Your brows knit together in confusion as Kuroo turned for a row of desks. No. The confusion was replaced by annoyance as he sat in a desk near the back middle. Of course. Of course it would be the same class. 

"I hope Kuroo gave you a warm welcome without too much hassle, or sass," the teacher said. "Nothing I can't handle," you replied. "Hashimoto, glad to have you joining the class. See me after for the work to catch you up in this unit, but I've seen your placement scores I'm sure you'll manage just fine," he said warmly. You nodded in response. "Class, (Y/l/n) will be joining us for the rest of the year, please do your best to make her feel welcome," Hashimoto-sensei said. You waved lazily as you scanned the room. A few looks of distaste and judgement already. 

"Take the empty seat behind Yaku," Hashimoto said and motioned for Yaku to raise his hand. A kid looked up startled, before raising his hand. The last seat along the wall of the door. You walked over and he turned holding a hand out to shake. "Yaku Morisuke! Nice to meet you (Y/l/n)-san," he greeted with a kind smile. 

He seemed completely unphased by the resting bitch face and aggressive accessories with your uniform. This school is weird. The people repellent isn't working. You eyed his hand warily. What was in the water in Nekoma? Do these people have no self preservation skills? Or do they just not fear you enough? There was a time you were intimidating. You missed that time.

"I don't bite," Yaku said playfully. His words were warm and kind. "I might," you countered and shook his hand, "And feel free to drop the honorifics." "Noted," he said before turning back around. You ignored the feeling of eyes on you. 

~~~~~

Several introductions to the teachers later, you now had a mountain of homework. The math and physics your were ahead with, but the bio and chem were each two units ahead of where you had left off. You walked to the library, knowing you'd work better on school grounds than at home. You walked to an empty table and set your stuff down before folding the blazer and stuffing it in your bag. You rolled up the sleeves of your button down and buried yourself in the pile of work.

~~~~~

You looked up as you felt a tap on your shoulder. "The library is closing dear," said a sweet looking woman. "Oh. Sorry," you apologized and pulled all you papers and books into a pile as you struggled to scurry out. It was six in the afternoon? You hadn't even noticed the time. 

You nodded politely to the woman on your way out. Your hands were cramping and sore from the pressure of your stressed death grip on the pencil for the last three and a half hours. You tried to shake out the ache before you grabbed your phone. Nothing from your dad. Good, your lack of checking in won't cause a near heart attack like last time. 

You gripped onto your phone as you walked into someone's back. You stepped back about to apologize but froze taking a second longer than anticipated to look up to the face that had whipped around to see who walked into them. "Holy fucking shit you're tall," you blurted. "I'm Lev," the kid said ignoring your rudeness. "I didn't ask. My bad for walking into you dude," you said and shook your head to clear the weird exchange from your mind. 

"Quinine-chan," cheekily asked a voice from around the corner. "No," you replied flatly. "You know Kuroo," Lev asked taking two strides to catch up to you. "I'm going home," you declared. Another two steps forward and a torso blocked your path. He radiated heat like a portable space heater. This wasn't necessarily what you meant by him being hot. "What are you doing here so late," Kuroo teased as if to imply you were waiting for him. You held up the stack of papers and books. "What does it look like kitty-cat," you said with venom laced through your deceptively sweet smile and words. "Kitty-cat," he asked amused. You patted his shoulder placatingly and walked past. 

"What did you do to piss her off," Yaku asked. "Hi Yaku," you greeted kindly before walking toward the bus stop. "GIRL," a new voice said. Your glare returned as you directed it at the voice of the person shouting. He froze in his tracks. A bottle blonde faux hawk greeted you. What an interesting school. He looked like he had just seen Aphrodite in real life. "Not going to happen," you declared and turned once your damage had been done. The sound of guys laughing grew farther behind you as you walked toward your house.

~~~~~

The door opened and you walked over to make sure it was in fact your dad. "Hi kiddo! How was school," he asked. "Good. Just trying to catch up with homework," you shared. "Make any friends," your dad asked. "Dad it's the first day," you said chuckling as you joined him at the kitchen counter. "Exactly. I know my charming daughter, I'd be surprised if you weren't practically running the school," he said. "Well be ready to be surprised," you laughed. 

"How are your teachers," your dad questioned. "The physics teacher, Hashimoto, is currently my favorite. Take yourself, but crank the dork and chaos meters to eleven. He had a student let go of a swinging bowling ball that nearly brushed his nose. And our current project is to see if we can pinpoint dropping a water balloon on his head using velocity, trig, and more," you shared. "You're so excited. What a little nerd? I love it," your dad said. 

"Speaking of nerds, how was work," you asked. "Hey! I am no nerd. Your old man is the very back bone to that edgy music you grew up on and swear by," he countered. "You're an audio technician," you said, pretending it was no big deal. He once again started explaining the logistics. "Hmmmm see, sounds all technical and nerdy to me," you teased. "You're a pain in my ass," he declared. You smiled proudly and nodded.

~~~~~

You walked to school and tried your best to tame your hair by pulling half of it up into two space buns. "Quinine-chan," Kuroo's voice greeted. "Oh how wonderful, the stray kitty I can't get rid of," you remarked. "I think I figured out why you hate me so much," he declared. "Oh, do enlighten me," you remarked. "My apologies, (Y/l/n) I did not intend to come off as flirty," he replied. You tilted your head and decided to toy with him. Is he really that full of himself? That was fine, but what irked you was his smug attitude that he seemed to always be one step ahead. 

"You were trying to flirt," you asked innocently, "Hate to break it to ya kitty-cat but I'm a little out of your league. And I don't really do the whole tied down thing." His expression dropped. "Wh- No- I wasn't trying to flir- I was literally jus- Out of my lea-," he stumbled through his words. "Cat got your tongue? Better men have tried resisting my accidental and natural charms. I'll leave you to sort your thoughts out," you stated calmly. You patted his shoulder placatingly before walking to your class.

~~~~~  
~Kuroo's POV~

He stood frozen as she walked into the classroom. "You alright captain," Yaku asked. "What just happened," Kuroo asked. "You tried to be all smug and snarky when confronting (Y/l/n) and she not only shut you down but also pushed the exact buttons she needed to, to get you to leave her alone," Yaku noted. Kuroo nodded to himself. Kuroo came to some of his own conclusions.

Conclusion 1: She was perceptive, clever, and charming.

Conclusion 2: She was someone he wanted to get to know. Platonic or romantic could be sorted later. She was too interesting not to pursue getting to know. He had to see how her brain worked or he would lose his mind speculating.

Conclusion 3: This new fascination may very well be his undoing and he was content with that.

"Oh no," Yaku muttered. "What? I didn't even say anything," Kuroo defended. "You have that smug scheme-y face," Yaku declared. "This is just my face! I'm nowhere close to trying to scheme," Kuroo insisted. Yaku hummed skeptically as they walked into the class. "Also remind me at practice to work with Lev on his receives," Yaku thought aloud. "No worries I was going to suggest it anyways," Kuroo noted.

~~~~~

"Alright! Groups of four," Hashimoto started and rattled the names off pointing up out. "Kuroo join Yaku and Okita in a group. (Y/l/n) you're with that group too," Hashimoto declared. Kuroo stood and walked over, taking a seat beside Yaku. His brain was swirling with the different equations and variables they were about to work with. He was so completely distracted by science and math that he completely missed Okita sit across from him and shyly greet him as he stared at the notes he had just placed down. 

"Oi! Dumbass," Yaku said elbowing him sharply. Kuroo flashed the libero a surprised glare. "You totally just spaced out and ignored Okita-chan," Yaku shared. "My bad. Hey, Okita-chan," he greeted. "No worries," the girl said timidly. "Nice going, Kuroo-san," (Y/l/n) commented. He glanced over a bit confused by the sudden use of honorifics. He eyed her like she had just slapped him. "Nice to meet you. I'm (Y/f/n)," (Y/l/n) greeted Okita. 

Kuroo glanced sideways at Yaku to see if he was the only one thrown off by the sudden softness to (Y/l/n). The first person she gave her given name to was this timid girl, whom Yaku was convinced liked Kuroo. That however was a whole different debacle. Yaku was doing a much better job at hiding his reaction, but he was definitely just as confused. "You can call me by (Y/n) if you want," (Y/l/n) said kindly. "Okita Azuna," Okita greeted, lighting up, "You can call me whatever makes you most comfortable." "Nice to meet you Azuna. Alright. Let's try to drop this water balloon," (Y/l/n) said confidently. 

"Who are you and what did you do to Quinine-chan," Kuroo questioned still confused. "I'm not always bitter, Kuroo-san," she said. He felt like he was being held out at arms length all of a sudden. Did he manage to piss her off somehow? What the hell is going on? "Fair enough," Kuroo decided to respond. He couldn't get a read on her yet. As someone who was good with reading people, this was kind of starting frustrate him. He usually had a better read by now, but he kept seeming to hit dead ends and his guesses were always a hair or completely off.

"I can see smoke coming from your ears," (Y/l/n) declared. Kuroo looked back up realizing she was talking to him. "Physics isn't my strongest class," Kuroo shrugged off still in work mode. "You always get really high marks Kuroo," Okita reassured. "You're welcome by the way," Yaku said slinging his arm on Kuroo's shoulders. Kuroo smiled rolling his eyes. "Yaku it's a miracle you aren't failing physics," Kuroo fired. 

"(Y/n) is- did you finish," Azuna asked. "A- oh. Sort of. I came up with my own estimations but I was planning to wait until one of you had your own to compare and maybe tweak it," (Y/l/n) said sheepishly. "How did you finish," Yaku asked. "We worked with this stuff in my last school. Not like this exactly, it was all on paper, but Hashimoto-sensei already gave all of the variables in class yesterday and I was getting bored with chem so ...I toyed with some of the formulas to fill in more gaps and then frankensteined it all into what's here now, after he clarified some of the variables, like his walking speed, the distance from the roof to the ground, and the likes," (Y/n) brushed off. 

"You got bored with chem, so to not be bored you voluntarily did math," Yaku asked. "If it means dropping at water balloon on sensei's head, then yes," she shrugged. "What'd you come up with," Kuroo asked. "Why, you have something," she asked. "I have a tentative base formula but I haven't tried plugging in anything. And we'd need a range to estimate for human error," Kuroo thought aloud. He pulled his notes out and turned for her to read as she did the same. "Is that greek," Azuna asked wide eyed. "It just means the change in distance and that one is the change in time," (Y/l/n) explained. "And this is the change in velocity, until it reaches terminal velocity," Kuroo shared. 

She's brilliant.

"So if we get our equation down, what do we do for the next two weeks," Yaku asked. "We can practice it! Kuroo's about the same height of Hashimoto-sensei right," Azuna asked. "He's two centimeters taller," Yaku declared. (Y/l/n) narrowed her eyes examining the top of his head. "Kuroo-san can you lower your head," she asked. He looked at her confused. "I need to measure for the difference," she declared. 

He tucked his chin down and looked up to see Azuna taking her ruler to the top of his head. "Start of the bangs," Azuna shared. "Then, that's were we pin the tack and aim for. If we're early with him it'll make up for the extra two centimeter of free fall," (Y/l/n) said, head buried in her notes as she wrote furiously.

Kuroo lifted his head and Azuna was still turned to (Y/l/n). When Azuna turned back sensing his movements, she blushed with their faces so close. She sat back quickly not saying anything. Kuroo glanced over to Yaku who was hiding his mouth behind his hand. "What," Kuroo asked. "Nothing," Yaku said. 

"How about after clubs get out today, we start," Yaku suggested. "That works for me," (Y/l/n) answered. "Yeah, I'm good with that. But my club gets out pretty early. "You can sit with me in the library. I was planning to go there and finish the chem work," (Y/l/n) offered. "If you guys want you can sit in the gym until six. The library closes earlier on Fridays," Yaku shared. 

Kuroo tried to hide his startled reaction. He hadn't considered them sitting in a practice as an option, but he wouldn't mind it. Kenma didn't see her the other day and now it gives him and excuse to add context and a face for his best friend to associate with the name he continued to roll his eyes at. 

"Only if we won't be a distraction o-or intruding," Azuna said cautiously. "Nekomata won't mind. Especially if it's for school," Kuroo reassured. "Nekomata's the coach," Yaku explained. "Cool," (Y/l/n) nodded, "Are those weird dudes going to be there?" Azuna looked confused. "She ran into Lev-kun and Yamamoto-kun," Yaku shared.

~~~~~

Kuroo found himself spacing out again as he watch Azuna and (Y/l/n) interact. They seemed to quickly become friends. The soft smiles meant to reassure (Y/l/n)'s new friend reminded him of himself with Kenma. The angry and snide remarks are probably a barrier then. Something to protect herself. He had already guessed that though. He wished he could just see inside her mind. To see and hear her thoughts might rid him of this constant daze that comes when he learns anything new about her. 

"I told you she liked you," Yaku said. Kuroo snapped up, feeling exposed and embarrassed. Did Yaku think he was checking out Azuma. It would look that way wouldn't it? "Yaku, I told you already, I'm not looking into dating right now," he declared. "Right, hence the longing glances instead of outright talking," Yaku said. "There's no longing glances. I'm just trying to figure something out," Kuroo shrugged off. 

~~~~~

"Catch you later Azuna," (Y/l/n) called after the small light brunette with perpetually tired or terrified hazel eyes. Softness seemed to recede from (Y/l/n), immediately. Kuroo didn't realize how long he'd been staring until (Y/l/n) called him out, "What?" He shook his head looking forward. "It's not important," he shrugged off. "Kuroo-san you're being weird," she noted. Yaku had gone silent to watch the exchange, but Kuroo still had him in his peripheral. 

"Why the sudden use of honorifics? You weren't keen on them at all yesterday," Kuroo pointed out refusing to look back. He knew her expression would be coy, unreadable or both. It would only frustrate him further. But he noticed her voice was honest. If he could tune out the visuals it was easy to pick up on intentions and any subtext through her voice.

"You're oblivious, huh? Azuna likes you. I don't want to give her the wrong idea that I'm interested," she said honestly. He didn't know why he wanted that to be a lie. He also didn't know why it felt like a punch to the gut when it wasn't. "You're a good friend. Even if it's buried under that edge," he commented earnestly. "No more bickering," Yaku asked hopefully. "No one agreed to that," Kuroo said finding himself jinxing with (Y/l/n). He looked back over to see her laugh light up her whole face. 

Why does he feel like this? He just wants a friend. Friends don't make him hold his breath like this. What the hell was she? A siren? Quinine was a more fitting nickname than he intended. He was certainly feeling some of the adverse reactions.

~~~~~

"I already texted Nekomata," Kuroo shared. "I'll talk with the team while you talk with him," Yaku said. "Yeah, thanks man," Kuroo said before nodding for (Y/l/n) to follow him. "Nekomata, this is (Y/l/n) from our class. Okita-chan is coming after her club lets out," Kuroo shared. 

"Okita, huh? You think Kenma might get fired up for once," Nekomata asked. "I still doubt it. If anything he might be a bit more conscious of the new eyes on him. I warned him though, and seemed alright over text," Kuroo informed. He glanced over to check on (Y/l/n) after accidentally, completely, ignoring her. A curious expression rested on her face. He looked at her confused briefly before shaking it off and looking back to Nekomata. "Yaku's also updating the rest of the guys," Kuroo shared.

Nekomata took a call walking off. "Kenma likes Azuna doesn't he," (Y/l/n) asked, Kuroo stared down in shock, "Then you're not oblivious. You just don't know how to turn her down. Or you do and you don't want to hurt her." "Is this what other people feel like dealing with myself," Kuroo muttered. "Yes," a quiet deadpan said. "Oh my fuck! Kenma! God damn it! How long where you there," Kuroo demanded trying to calm down from the near heart attack. "Long enough to hear female you break down the moral conundrum your dumbass has been stressed over for the past few months. During her second day here," Kenma replied. 

Kuroo noted the kid's ease talking in front of her. "Is that Dark Souls two," (Y/l/n) asked peeking at Kenma's PSP. Kenma's face lit up, despite the deadpan he was trying to maintain. "You play," Kenma asked. "Yeah! My dad and I have this competition to see-," she started. Kuroo just stood shocked as she seemed to effortlessly engage Kenma in conversation. 

Conclusion 4: (Y/f/n) was a perfect fit among him and his friends. He wasn't going to do anything that might jeopardize that.


	2. I Did Not Make Friends, I Merely Adopted A Few Strays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Sir Reginald McFartFace is going to be in the tags I thought it only fitting he'd also have his chapter of introduction up as well.

~Your POV~

You chewed on the end of your pen as you tried to make sense of the molecular geometry before you. "I can see steam," Kuroo's voice said. "I don't like geometry. Trig gets the only pass," you declared. You heard a soft chuckle as the air seemed to warm by your shoulder. You glanced over to see him peeking at the paper. Water bottle in hand, towel draped over his head, he was radiating heat. So this is a regular thing. Space-heater-kun.

"If you sweat on my homework, I will kill you," you noted. "Do you want help or not," he asked. You hummed in defeat and nodded for him to go ahead. He had that same focused, no nonsense face as earlier in the day. The smug know-it-all look was wiped off. Damn it. He was really hot. But Azuna likes him. You were going to try and make that friendship work. You weren't going to ruin that over a boy.

He braced his hand on your shoulder and pointed out on the paper, "Yaku made the same mistake. The electrons are correct but the charges would make it connect like this instead," he said pointing to the other example. So chemistry was his thing then? Well that makes sense with the choice nickname for you being named after a treatment for malaria because it was bitter. Although you would have gone for something that was higher on the ph scale due to bases often having bitter tastes, but to each their own.

"Thank you," you said fixing your mistakes. He made a noise to acknowledge your response as he prepped to go back on the court. You glanced back up to see him talking with the jumpy one with spiky brown hair. You were pretty positive the kid was a first year and his name was Inuoka. You looked over feeling eyes on you. The faux-hawk who they called Yamamoto was staring intently before looking away turning bright red as you made eye contact. You chuckled to yourself and caught Kenma's eyes. He seemed to be trying to figure something out. You waved and Kenma nodded turning back to the net.

Lev caught your eyes as he jumped up waving excited. He didn't realize the wave was directed at Kenma. You chuckled waving back. The volleyball team was a bunch of dumb idiots. 

"Hi," Azuna said somehow appearing from thin air. "Jesus christ you scared me," you laughed as she sat beside you. "I don't think they're going to let us on the roof to practice," Azuna worried. "The distance from the fire escape landing below mine is the same height. I measured in case I was going to do the project alone," you pointed out. "We can ask Yaku and Kuroo on their next break," Azuna suggested. "Sounds good to me. I'll text my dad," you agreed.

~~~~~

You and Azuna waved Yaku over as Kuroo was already headed for his water beside you. "They're locking up the school at six would you guys be down to test it at my apartment. There's a landing on the fire escape that's the same height," you shared. "Are your parents okay with that," Yaku asked. "Yeah I already texted my dad," you reassured. "Sure," Kuroo agreed. "Okay," Yaku nodded. "Bet," you nodded, "That was it. You're free to go." Yaku chuckled, "Yes, ma'am." "I detect snark," you pointed out. "From me," Yaku asked feigning innocence. You shook your head with a disappointed expression.

Azuna was giggling beside you and you smiled proudly for making the socially anxious girl feel comfortable. She reminded you a lot of a friend you used to have years ago. She looked up glancing somewhere on the court and immediately looked at her hands in her lap turning a brighter red than when you watched her come face to face with Kuroo. You followed her gaze to see Kenma also blushing furiously. Your head whipped back to Azuna. Maybe your calculations were wrong.

"Kuroo-san, don't you have a team to captain," you asked. "Trying to get rid of me already," he teased. "I am going to have to deal with your face for another few hours," you teased back. "Be nice to Okita," he said before walking off. Did he see it too?

You followed Kuroo and Yaku with your eyes before turning to the confused Azuna. "You saw didn't you," she whispered. You smiled gently. "Even my perceptive eyes are a bit confused," you commented. She knit her eyebrows in confusion. 

"I was nearly positive you had a thing for Kuroo-san, but that reaction to locking eyes with Kenma also didn't go unnoticed," you whispered. "K-Kuroo," she asked bewildered. You laughed as she vehemently shook her head. "Why are you laughing," she asked. "You're adorable," you noted. "I am suffering! Why would you think that," she asked keeping her voice down.

"You get all doe-eyed and flustered, but I never considered you might just be scared of him," you pointed out. "He's very intimidating! And he's Kenma's best friend so I can't have him hating me," she worried. "Kuroo? Intimidating? He wishes," you said loud enough to grab his attention. "Shh! Stop being so loud! And maybe not to you because you're all tough and badass, but like he's tall and he always looks like he's scheming up something evil ...or dirty," Azuna defended.

You glanced over at the boy and thought back to the few encounters you've had the past few days. "He's a dopey nerd," you pointed out. "A scary dopey nerd," she insisted. "Well, now you got me to wrangle in the scary dopey nerd. I can be like the lion tamer to help you talk to Kenma without dumbass doing anything stupid," you offered. "R-really," she asked. "Of course! That's what friends do," you reassured. She smiled at you brightly and you looked to see Yamamoto in tears. You laughed, knowing you making another female laugh and smile caused the reaction.

~~~~~

"You know, I wasn't going to, but now that you've brought up Kenma, I must ask about that exchange between you and Kuroo when I was walking in," she said with a knowing smile. You shrugged noting, "He was helping me with chem." "You mean to tell me there's nothing there," she asked. "Not that I'm aware of," you shrugged walking with her to wait at the end of the hall. "No... chem-istry," she asked, proud of her joke. You tried your hardest not to laugh but she was just damn proud that you couldn't fight off the light chuckle. "You're a dork," you said. "You're smiling though," she insisted proudly.

Footsteps jogged over and stopped behind you both, causing you to turn. "Hey, is it okay if Kenma tags along," Kuroo started. You glanced at Azuna before jumping in, "Absolutely!" Kuroo looked at you confused. And your eyes darted to Azuna to try and get it through to him. Realization flashed across his eyes. "I'm sure he'd love to see you get totally soaked," you said to keep Azuna from catching on. As perceptive as she was, subtext was not her strong suit. "Someone's confident in her formulas," Kuroo noted, before waving Kenma over.

"Hey Kenma," Azuna greeted. "Hi," Kenma said softly. He glanced up before looking back down quickly. "Yo, where's Yaku," you asked. "He's locking up," Kuroo shared. "Isn't that your job," You asked. "Yeah, but I had to ask about Kenma, so he volunteered," Kuroo shrugged. You flopped your head back whining, "I just want to change into some paaants!" "Not a skirts girl," Kuroo asked chuckling. 

You lifted your head back up and shook it, "Only when I go to events, or parties... or clubs." "You go to clubs," Kuroo asked in disbelief. "A couple of times. Technically I'm working when I do, but like, there's some fun had," you shrugged off. Azuna and Kuroo looked at you in a mixture of disbelief and concern as Kenma looked over with a curious gaze.

"Why is that so weird," you asked confused. "How the fuck could you be working at a club," Kuroo asked. "My dad's an audio engineer for this music company and sometimes he needs a hand at live events. And a set of eyes that'll tell him if the rig looks cool or fits the band's vibe," you shrugged, "Do you people not- like are you guys... not... used to those environments?" "No," they all said. You let out a soft snort, "Losers." Azuna started short circuiting. "You broke her," Kuroo said. "You pressed the topic," you insisted. "Because that's not a normal thing," he insisted. "Maybe not to you kitty-cat," you noted.

Yaku's voice cut through the now confused looking Kuroo's short circuiting. "Hey! Sorry. All set," he said. You narrowed your eyes taking in his appearance. His cheeks were still flushed, while Kenma and Kuroo had both returned to their normal complexion. There was also a light glaze of sweat across his forehead despite having ended practice a good twenty minutes ago. You sized him up for a good second before glancing back toward the gym.

"What," Yaku asked. "I didn't say anything," you countered. "Your face is all judge-y," Yaku said defensively. "That's just my face," you shrugged letting the knowing smirk cross your face. He sounds real defensive. Like he'd been caught red handed. "Besides, I'd call the RBF more suspicious and smug than judge-y," you shrugged. "Suspicious," Yaku asked sounding a bit panicked as he adjusted his shirt collar. He's anxious. So he was probably partaking in some shenanigans. But which kind? You laughed feigning to shrug it off, "Why so on edge Yaku-san? I'm just teasing!" He laughed nervously and Kuroo turned to you shaking his head.

"You're evil," he said dipping his head to whisper it for only you to hear. Your heart skipped a beat as that heat he radiated and his voice flooded your senses. Oh no. Uh uh! We are not catching feelings. "Whatever could you mean kitty-cat," you asked as innocently as possible. The knowing smile crept in behind your fake doe eyes. "I don't like the two of you conspiring. Not one bit," Yaku noted. "It's like watching a tiger and a lion interact," Azuna noted. You growled at her with a smirk. "Excuse me," Azuna asked blushing profusely. "Learned that in a gay club. Best event I had ever been to, to date. They know how to fucking party," you declared smiling back on the fond memories, "Well, let's head out."

You looked over to see Kuroo still trying to reboot. "Cat got your tongue tiger," you asked. "You're going to break him break him permanently," Yaku noted worried, as you all started out. "Why am I tiger," Kuroo asked snapping out of it. "Because I said so. If it'll soften the blow we can pretend it's because you're a weird chemistry genius like the new Spiderman," you shrugged off. "Does that make you MJ," he asked. "Not even in your wildest dreams kitty-cat," you countered.

~~~~~

"And this is my apartment. Watch the door," you said and closed it before scooping up your black cat. "Not today you tricky fucker," you said before scratching his head and setting him back down. "I love your cat," Azuna exclaimed. "That is Sir Reginald McFartFace," You declared matter of factly. 

Yaku and Azuna tried to hold back their laughter as mixed expressions of "what the fuck" crossed their eyes. Kenma chuckled and Kuroo let out a loud hideous derp laugh that made your own stoic expression crack. "Are serious!? That is amazing," he declared. "Ah a man of good taste in comedy I see. Much appreciated. Make yourselves comfy, I'll be right back," you replied.

Now in your dad's flannel, that was baggy on even him, and some black shorts, you slid on your slippers and shuffled back out. "Are those bunny slippers," Yaku asked. "Yes! Don't you dare judge me," you said committing to your life choices. You looked over to see Kuroo sitting on the floor playing with your cat with a goofy smile. What an absolute fucking dork? Your heart completely melted and he looked up with a goofy smile.

Conclusion 5: Conclusion two is completely inaccurate he is far too much of a goofy dork to be a player.

Conclusion 6: You will no doubt catch feelings if you spend anymore time with this sweet dumb boy.

His smug grin put an end to the wholesome scene before you. "What happened to wearing pants," he asked. You pulled the open bottom half of the buttons and lifted it before tucking it into your shorts as you flipped him off. "You're a dick," he said. You flashed a smug smile. You walked to your dad's office and the bathroom and returned with a hot glue gun, a thumb tack, and a headband. "The fuck is that," Yaku asked. "I was asked to bring a thumbtack rig since I suggested it. I need to make it real quick," you said and sat in the living room.

"Is this you," Azuna asked holding a picture up. You looked up. "Oh, no that's my mom," you said, "I was graced with her looks and dad's personality." "What's she like," Yaku asked. "Uhh, demure and kind. Polite but sociable and always charming. Never a bad word about anyone," you shared. You focused on trying not to make it weird. Once you bring up the mother died in childbirth card the mood usually tanks, pretty quick. 

"I am however in that second to last one. The black dress and rainbow lace-wig. That was the pride event where they taught me to growl," you shared changing the subject before they could ask the questions that would force you to answer. "No fucking way," Azuna said taking the bait. "Dude! You look incredible," Yaku said. "Thank you, thank you! All thrifted. Except the wig," you shared. You looked over to see a curious look on both Kuroo and Kenma's faces as they exchanged a glance.

You ignored it checking the hot glue gun. It was ready! Thank god. You started to make the head band and called out, "Hey can you guys fill up the balloons and weigh them." "For sure," Azuna chirped. "You can use the sink in the kitchen," you offered. Kenma was at the counter playing his PSP. Yaku flopped on the couch as Kuroo remained still to pet Sir Reginald. You started to glue the tack to the headband when the doorknob turned.

You looked up at the sound and the door opened. You glanced down at the flannel and tried to flash an innocent smile. Your dad walked in and scanned the entrance to spot you. "Kid...," he started. "Hi dad," you greeted sweetly. "I thought we agreed you would stop stealing my clothes," he sighed. "We did? Wowie. My bad," you replied. "Quit stealing my shirts," he scolded. "Stop buying steal-able shirts," you countered. 

"Hello friends of my pain in the ass daughter," your dad greeted. "Hello (Y/l/n)-san," they all greeted. "So, you did make friends," your dad said pointing at you accusingly. You looked around and pulled your hands up in surrender. "I did not make friends, I merely adopted a few strays," you defended. The exchange seemed to lighten the stiffness in your peers.

Your dad laughed before looking at Kuroo confused. "Is Sir Reginald letting a male, pet him," your dad asked. "I told you, it's just you," you shrugged. "No, there's no way," your dad said. "Kenma was petting him earlier," Azuna shared. 

Your dad turned to look at the soft and sweet female shocked. "You made friends with a girl? And not a carbon copy of yourself type of girl. Like a Sayuri type of girl," your dad asked shocked, as he closed the door. You thought back on Sayuri. The very friend that had prompted your protective nature toward Azuna. "Don't act so surprised! If I recall correctly, just yesterday, you were saying I'm so charming," you countered. "She is very charming," Azuna agreed. You could see in her eyes she was going to question you about Sayuri later.

Kuroo snorted through a sarcastic, stifled, laugh. "Oi, watch it rooster head," you countered. "That was so charming," Yaku joined in. "I will yeet you both off the fire escape. Try me," you threatened. "Please don't. We need Kuroo for the physics experiment," Azuna said. "THAT'S ALL Y-," Both Kuroo and Yaku started. 

"Do it," Kenma deadpanned turning back to his game. "I just got Kenma's approval wound you," you exclaimed turning to Kuroo. "BRO," Kuroo asked hurt. "I was hoping you'd commit to murder," Kenma noted. You and Azuna had fell into a fit of laughter at Kenma's smug expression toward the betrayed looking Kuroo.

"Not with the fire escape too many witnesses," your dad noted. "Good point, good point," you nodded. "Might I reiterate, our physics grade is heavily effected by this project," Azuna chimed in. "I will help you hide the body if you don't kill me," Yaku offered. "Dude! I feel very unsafe," Kuroo said. "Fine you're safe Yaku, but you're on thin fucking ice," you agreed. "Sir Reginald, protect me," Kuroo said to your cat.

You jumped up and ran over to hug your dad. "How was work," You asked your dad as the others fell into conversation. "Easy peasy. I'm going to recede to my room. I might be going out tonight," he said. You straightened up excited, "Like out, out?" He smiled and shrugged. "I swear to god if you wear those god awful socks with the dad jokes and she doesn't laugh you better b-line it out of the place pronto," you declared. "Aye aye captain," he nodded walking past before turning, "I will also have questions for you when I return." "I'm sure you will," you remarked chuckling.

You walked back to the headband and it was set. "We're good! Azuna! Balloons! Report," you asked. "We have six balloons. Each one labeled and weighed," she shared proudly. You watched Kenma smile, sweetly. Aww! They're so pure! "C'mon tiger, drop the cat," you ordered. "Oh boy," he muttered. 

You walked them out to the balcony. "And here we have an alleyway and our fire escape," you shared walking down to the next landing. You set the tape down and pointed for Yaku to set up. "Tiger, with me," you said and walked down the next two landings before unhooking the ladder to climb down.

"Yaku can you extend the tape measure down," you called stepping down. "These feel kind of sketchy Quinine-chan," Kuroo said as he started down. You caught sight of his abs poking out and shook your head before trying to cover it, "I could do it in bunny slippers. You'll be fine. Scaredy-cat." "More like, I have some semblance of self preservation," he countered. "Boo hoo," you countered, grabbing the measuring tape. You felt the heat still lingering in your cheeks from spotting the sneak peek of a six-pack, most likely from his time in volleyball. 

How did you miss that during practice? 

Thank god you missed that.

"You alright," Kuroo asked suddenly beside you. You jumped letting go of the tape. "Jesus fucking shit! I was focused dude! Don't sneak up on a bitch when she's mathing," you said and marked the area with tape. "Mathing isn't a word," he said. "mAtHiNg IsN't A wOrD," you mocked. "So charming," he remarked. You flipped him off calling up, "Drop the rest down!" 

You caught the measuring tape and handed one end to Kuroo. "Think you can handle holding it to the ground," you asked. "I think I can manage smart ass," he nodded. "Would you two stop flirting," Yaku asked. "Would you ever tell us who you were doing? Oops. I meant what you were doing, back at the gym," you taunted. Yaku's face turned bright red. "Excuse me," Kuroo said taking note of the reaction. "I was just locking up," Yaku insisted, defensively. "Okay, okay," you replied not pressing.

You placed down tape at the starting point. "You! Here," you said pointing to Kuroo. He walked over and you had him place his toes at the edge of the electrical tape. "We're going to practice your timing okay," you asked. You sat off to the side with the stop watch. "Touch the water balloons and you die. Only Azuna is allowed to touch them right now," You insisted. Yaku saluted teasingly.

~~~~~

"Hey kid," your dad said poking his head out above, "I'm headed out. Behave. There's money on my dresser for pizza." He was in a red button down that was unbuttoned enough to reveal a black tank, and his sleeves were rolled up to show off his watch. The button down was tucked into black distressed jeans that he cuffed to show off the black dad-joke socks. You smiled in approval. 

"Okay! Text me if you're staying out in case I need to lock up," you said. "I'm the parent that's supposed to be my line," he noted. You stuck your tongue out before adding, "You look good knock 'em dead." "I'm too pretty for jail," he countered. "I- oh my god, you really do have his personality," Azuna said. You laughed at your dad's confused expression. "Talk later," you and him jinxed. You both nodded and he glanced at your group, "Nice to meet you all." "Nice to meet you too," they chorused. He walked back inside.

As soon as the door shut their heads snapped to you. "You both dress so cool," Azuna said in awe. "Heavily influenced by the people he works with," you shrugged. "Your mom not coming home," Yaku asked confused. "No," you said simply, "Ah, Kuroo let's reset that pace again but keep it just like you had." 

They all seemed a bit tense. You sighed looking back at Yaku, "You didn't say anything wrong. I'd just rather not talk about it to avoid tanking the mood. We have a physics project to complete and Kuroo's pacing is shit," you shared trying to keep it light.

"We have two weeks to work on it," Kuroo said gently. "No, don't... do that. You're supposed to be the not serious one," you complained. "He digs his heels in for serious shit. It's annoying. He makes people actually face their issues," Kenma said annoyed. "I'm only ignoring it to keep personal and business separate. It's really not a big deal, it just makes people uncomfortable and I'd rather not," you insisted. "I won't press," Kuroo said, "For now." "I don't like that for now," you muttered. "Tough shit," he shrugged as you reset the stop watch.

~~~~~

Everything had shifted back to normal and you had gotten Kuroo's speed to a tee. He bowed his head and you put the thumbtack headband on. "Oh Jesus," he mumbled. "Okay, I'm headed up with the the others," you said. He hummed disapprovingly. You laughed and climbed back up. You sat by your text book. 

"Take take three side steps to your right. We're going to do three trials to match the drop timing and then we're going to give ourselves three trials of trying to get him," you shared. They nodded in agreement. Each of them seemed to trust you since it was your equations. You knew what you were doing, but to have them rely on you, now had you questioning your own capabilities.

~~~~~

You all -minus Kenma, he just glanced up all curious- started screaming as the third of the drop timing synced up. "Okay! Set to the tape! Let's try for real," you said excited. You watched as Yaku missed by just a hair. "Shake it off. It's fine. It's a learning curve. We have time to perfect it," you reassured. He nodded softly. "Alright tiger, reset," you called. You watched as he deferred to you for when to go. Each of their eyes were on you. There was no room for error on your part. 

"Start," you called. "Drop," you ordered. You held your breath and it hit before popping. You screamed out excited and Yaku jumped up shaking your shoulders as Azuna hugged Kenma. She jumped back before rambling an apology, "I am so incredibly sorry! I didn-" 

You looked over toward Kuroo who was chuckling. His eyes locked with yours and you noted how his hair was flopped down and sticking to his face. 

Conclusion one was dangerously accurate. Not only was he hot, but he was kind. That was fatal. Any time spent with him alone will undoubtedly result in you developing feelings. That wouldn't be fair to either of you. Chances where, in a few months, you'd be packing up again to go travel with your dad. 

You looked back over at Azuna as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Kenma. It might not be something feasible for yourself but you'd be damned if you didn't help others get that chance you won't.


	3. Grandma Always Knows

You walked the boys out as Azuna was staying over. "Thank you for having us," Yaku said. "It was kind of cool," Kenma said softly. You smiled proudly at the response. "Catch you guys at school," you said. They nodded waving and you glanced over at Kuroo who was quiet. He seemed like he wanted to ask something. "Good night," he settled with. "Night Tiger," you said hesitantly as they left.

"Soooo, you going to elaborate on that whole thing with your mom? You don't have to," Azuna asked once the door closed. "Right down to business huh," you teased. "I'm so sorry," she exclaimed. "Don't be," you reassured, "But you have to make me a promise. Well, two." "Absolutely," she nodded.

"One, you don't tell the guys and let me decide whether I tell them or not in my own time," you started. "Of course," she nodded vehemently. "Second, you're not going to feel sorry for me or say you're sorry," you said. "I can do that," she agreed.

You nodded and sat with her at the counter where you had left the pizza box. "My mom isn't with us anymore. It's just been me and dad, my whole life. She died in childbirth so I never got to know her enough to miss her. But the whole dead mom thing usually tanks a mood pretty fast because everyone else ends up feeling sorry for me even if I'm fine," you shared and braced.

"Oh," she said nonchalantly.

Silence followed.

Oh?

That's it?

Oh!?!?

"Okay, I've never gotten that reaction before," you admitted confused. "Talk to Kuroo and Kenma about it," she said. "What," you asked confused. "They won't get all weird about it. Yaku will probably worry for an afternoon and kick himself mentally for the comment. But they won't get too weird about it," she reassured. "Noted," you phrased as more of a question.

"Speaking of the boys... kitty-cat and tiger," she asked. "Why do ask it like that," you asked. "I don't know maybe because of the nonstop flirting and oogling," she asked. "I just have a very flirty nature," you shrugged. "You didn't earlier today," she pointed out. "Well earlier today I thought you liked him," you shrugged off.

Her arms swung up and wrapped around you. "Why are you hugging me," you asked. "No one's ever put aside their own feelings like that for me before and it means a lot but also don't you fucking dare do it again," she said sounding on the verge of tears.

"It's not like I'm in love with him. I just thought he was kinda hot but now he's kinda just a weird and nerdy," you shrugged off. "You do like him," she exclaimed. "Like how one admires art, sure," you continued.

"Why are you so against having feelings for him," she asked. "It's just easier that way. I've tried the whole making friends and trying for unbreakable bonds even over long distances and... it just doesn't work out. I'm never in one place long enough," you said trying to wave it off. "But this is your last year of high school, don't you want to make the best of it," she asked. "Yeah, but I don't need another person to do that," you said.

You sat in silence with Azuna as she seemed to ponder everything you just shared. "So, your dad. What kind of event was he dressed up for," she asked. "A date," you said excitedly. "Way to go Mr. (Y/l/n)," she said excited. "Right! He's finally getting back out there," you said proudly. "You both dress like rock stars! It's so cool," she exclaimed. "You can borrow anything from my closet," you offered. "O-Oh! No I could never," she stammered.

"What, are my clothes not good enough for you," you teased. "No! No! I mean yes! They totally are! But I jus- I couldn- I'd feel bad botheri-," she stammered. "Azuna, I wouldn't offer if I didn't want to or if I didn't mean it. I have no issue being a dick and saying no to friends," you said point blank.

"I mean, I guess," she said hesitantly, "So wait, you don't do friends but we're friends?" "You were too sweet and pure. My protective instincts overrode my better judgement and it's too late now," you teased melodramatically. 

You leaned over and flopped all of your weight on her. She giggled struggling to keep you from collapsing you both off of your chairs. "You're one to call Kuroo a dork," she noted. "Game recognizes game," you brushed off.

~~~~~

You sat in the living room with face masks on as you let Azuna braid your hair while she rambled on about Kenma.

"And then he let me play his console while I came down from the panic attack. Well more like I leaned against him and watched him play for me but he offered for me to make the choices," she shared. 

You tried to avoid glancing at the text from Kuroo on your phone. You had used the newfound contacts for asking how to get Kenma with Azuna. As well as making sure Kuroo's brain had fully caught up to everything. His response had kinda surprised you but it made sense.

"I hardly know him and even I know that's totally rare. Also, you didn't hear it from me, but totally has a thing for you too," you dropped casually. "What," she asked as nearly a shout. "He'll probably never make the first move so it might be easiest if you just know it's mutual," you noted.

The doorknob wiggled and you looked up as your dad walked in with a wide dopey smile. "Did it go well," Azuna asked excited. "I told her," you shared. "It went very well," he nodded.

"How'd the physics project go," your dad asked starting to set his things down. "Good," you said. Azuna excitedly added, "Your daughter's a genius, we hit it right on the mark!" "We wouldn't have done so if it wasn't for the rest of you guys being so consistent and trusting," you pointed out.

"Where's Sir Reginald," your dad asked. "He's been sulking and hiding in my room since the boys left," you pointed out. "Speaking of," your dad said and trailed off. "What," you asked. "Don't play innocent with me. Bedhead-kun who you threatened to murder. Spill, kid," your dad said taking a seat on the couch. 

You might have to steal that nickname. 

"He's just a boy in my class," you shrugged. "Just a boy in your class who you stared at very adoringly," your father noted. "They have nicknames for each other," Azuna shared. 

Narc. 

"Nicknames," your dad asked curiously. You pulled your knees into the top to try and hide as much of yourself as you can.

"You know I was misled to believe you'd be more intimidated and bashful by authority figures," you noted. "But he's just like you so it's more comfortable than other authority figures. Also, he calls her Quinine-chan and she calls him Kitty-can and Tiger. In the same conversation where tiger was started she growled at me and he completely short circuited," Azuna shared. "Poor boy," your father noted laughing.

"I'm going to go drown myself now," you noted embarrassed.

~~~~~

Now Azuna had recapped your father on every interaction you had brushed off with Kuroo, through a fine toothed comb, you turned your attention on your dad.

"Soooo! The date! How'd it go? Was there laughing at the socks? A hottie or do they just have a good personality," you nagged. "It went really well," your dad said with a dopey grin. "Details! Give me details," you demanded as you pulled the face mask off.

He laughed and started rattling off about the night. The dad jokes, the endless and easy conversation, the excitement his date had to meet you, were all brought up.

You smiled proudly at the way his eyes lit up. You hadn't seen your dad that happy in a long time. "Oh! And she has a son close to your age, but you usually get along with guys. She's worried he might be a bit much. Apparently he has a big personality. She also hasn't told him she's dating again either," he pointed out.

"I think I can manage," you laughed off. "Do you think we'd know him? Does he go to Nekoma too," Azuna asked curiously. "No I think she mentioned he goes to Fukurodani," he shared.

"The owls," Azuna cursed. Her adorable face scrunched up in a competitive rage. You cracked into a fit of laughter with your dad. "Who," your dad asked. "Those are the volleyball rivals of the guys right," you asked her. "We're crushing those damn owls this year," she declared boldly. 

"Very invested in volleyball I see," you nodded. "It's so hard not to be when you're friends with them," Azuna shrugged off. "I'll take your word for it," you laughed.

~~~~~  
~A week and a half later~

You sat in the library, head buried in the tail end of the work before you. The information was swirling in your head but you couldn't make sense of it. You had been working on the same worksheet for the last hour. You placed the pen down to massage the cramp forming in your hand.

A chair slid out beside you and you looked over to see Azuna. "I thought you might be here," she mentioned. "Hi," you said softly before turning back to the chem work. You knit your brows together trying to work out the molecular compound based on their bonds and poles.

"You had the boys worried you know," she said.

But your brain could only focus on how you'd now managed to make both ends negative which would only cause them to repel from each other, so that couldn't work. But there weren't enough to balance out the electrons for the covalent bond and the ionic bond would only-

"(Y/n)," Azuna blurted shaking your shoulders. You looked up startled. "You did not hear a word I just said did you," she asked. "Azuna," you asked confused as you just started to fully process her being there.

She laughed and handed you a juice box. "You really are a lot like Kuroo sometimes," she noted, "He gets really heady and hyper-focused on his studies too. We still working on the project today or do you need to get your make up work wrapped up?"

"No, no, it's fine. Yeah we're still on to work for the project. It's the last day to practice anyways," you said and started to close everything up. "Let me help," she said. "No you don-," you started and she just started to help you anyways. 

"You're a dick," you grumbled now ready to walk out. You sipped on the juice box and pouted which prompted a fit of giggles from Azuna. She never feared your grumpy face she always seemed to fucking giggle and it was annoying because it made it impossible to stay grumpy.

"Get used to me helping you," she teased sweetly. "Damn you and your kind heart," you replied trying to bite down the smile as you threw out the now empty juice box.

You walked out with her to the hall and opened your mouth to add another teasing joke when you heard two voices shout out, "You found her! You're okay!" You looked up to see Kuroo and Yaku relaxing as relief replaced worry. Even Kenma was quietly scanning your face.

Were they really that worried? You didn't expect them to notice or care for that matter.

"I told you she'd be in the library," Azuna said as you both approached them. "Dude we thought you were like kidnapped. You never, not, respond to texts or calls and you're always early, so when you were not only late but also not responding," Yaku worried like an anxious parent.

You scratched the back of your neck and sheepishly avoided their eyes, "I got kinda zoned in on Chem. Sorry for worrying you guys." "I told you guys, she's too tough to get kidnapped," Azuna declared proudly. You laughed as she wrapped an arm around your shoulders.

"How did practice go," you asked the boys. Kenma tagging along had become a regular thing that you and Kuroo had encouraged. "Lev actually hit some of Kenma's tosses," Yaku shared. "Nice going Kenma! Finally figuring out how to toss to him," you asked.

Kenma hummed, annoyed by the mere mention of Lev and practice. You laughed. Azuna pulled her arm off of your shoulders and drifted back to talk with Kenma more. You fell into the normal spot between beside Kuroo with Yaku on the other side of him.

"And Yamamoto and Inuoka were very disappointed you didn't come to sit in for our practice," Kuroo shared once you gave him your full attention, "Although, I think Kai was relieved they'd focus for once. Despite Fukunaga constantly teasing them."

Yaku jumped up to interrupt. "Hey, mind if we stop for some snacks," Yaku asked. "For sure. We should probably pick up some more balloons too," You agreed.

"Hey, Quinine-chan, if you're still having trouble with chem I can tutor you with Yaku," Kuroo offered as you turned for the corner store. "Hmmmm, we'll see, Tiger," you replied. "That's not a no," he said as you all neared it. "I am getting a little desperate, so I'm not going to completely wave the offer," you admitted. "It must be real bad if your considering taking help from him," Yaku noted. "Naturally," you teased.

Kuroo shook his head trying to bite down a smile. You couldn't help but wonder if he had any clue you payed attention to those little moments and reactions each of them pulled out of him. 

Yaku and Azuna were an open book in terms of their emotions, barring crushes of course, but it had always been more satisfying and entertaining to watch Kuroo and Kenma slip. To see behind the false senses of unshakable calm they tried to portray.

~~~~~

You walked outside to see Azuna standing by a boy. She looked very clearly uncomfortable by his looming presence. She seemed to be shaking her head no at something he had asked. She tried to step away and he pulled her back. The fear in her eyes were clear as day. He placed his hand on the wall beside her head and she drained of all color.

Red clouded your vision and your feet took off before your brain could.

"Oh, you have a little friend," he asked placatingly.

You grabbed his wrist and ripped it back, twisting it behind him before kicking the back of his knee. Azuna yelped as he crashed to the ground, sitting on his knees. You pulled his arm up and put pressure on it. You had never been more glad for the years of self defense classes.

"This is your only fucking warning. If I ever catch you fucking hitting on anyone who is clearly fucking uncomfortable again I will break your god damn arm. Do I make myself the fuck clear," you threatened, your voice in a low menacing growl.

"You're a crazy fucking bitch," he strained. You yanked his arm up causing him to yelp in pain. "I said, do I make myself clear," you demanded. "Yeah! Fucking shit you pyscho bitch. I heard you," he raised his voice.

You let go of him and grabbed Azuna to walk away. "Thank you," Azuna mumbled quietly. "She's a fucking prude anyways," he muttered. You whipped back around and spotted him now standing. You wound up and clocked him before Azuna could pull you back.

"Keep talking shit about my friend you fucking creep! I dare you," You went off.

"(Y/n), stop. Please, let's just go," Azuna pleaded through a shaky voice. You were pulled back, but it definitely was one of the guy's hands grabbing your shoulders. You were too preoccupied with threatening the asshole before you to investigate but you could guess by the familiar heat. 

You flipped the guy off instead as you were held back.

The guy looked to the person behind you petrified. "Do we have a problem here," Kuroo's voice asked from behind you, confirming your suspicions. He sounded a lot more menacing than you could ever imagine him to be. "No, no, no, it's fine. (Y/n) handled it. Let's just go," Azuna pleaded now sounding on the brink of tears.

Her embarrassment in her voice made you feel a little guilty for escalating the situation. You motioned to silently say you were watching the guy. You grabbed Azuna's shoulders and turned on your heel to leave.

She pulled you a few paces forward to the rest of the group as you grit your teeth regretting not hurting the guy worse. Kenma and Yaku just stared at you alarmed. They looked behind you probably to try and get some clue to the situation from Kuroo.

"You can't be getting into fights! I promised your dad to keep you out of trouble," Azuna stressed. "I don't give a fuck. If someone gives you hard time like that ever again I will not hesitate to beat the shit out of them," you declared. 

"What was he doing," Kuroo asked Azuna worried. "He was just flirting," Azuna tried to brush off. "You were trying to get away and he fucking kabedon-ed you in place. After, already pulling back when you had tried to escape before," you reminded.

Azuna just hung onto your arm. "I'm going to break his fucking neck," Kuroo said protectively as you saw Kenma glare back at the guy's direction. "No, neither of you are getting arrested over one asshole," Yaku said trying to push you all forwards.

~~~~~

Once the group had reached your apartment, the tension from the exchange with the corner store creep had fizzled out. You had even finished working on the project in no time at all. The accuracy was now spot on. You had also accounted for a good margin of error on Hashimoto-sensei's part.

So now, you were all sat around your living room. Kuroo had started tutoring you and Yaku as a trial period. You three were currently sat at the table, while Kenma and Azuna sat on the couch talking and playing on his PSP. 

She had still been a little shaken from the guy earlier, so you were glad Kenma was trying his best to comfort her.

Kuroo was now sat next to you trying to figure out what you had done as you got the same problem wrong for the second time. "As bad as me or worse," Yaku asked. "I honestly can't tell," Kuroo noted, "It's like, you get it initially and it almost looks like you second guess yourself before spiralling with the wrong answer," he pointed out.

You pinched the bridge of your nose frustrated and he handed the paper back and rested a hand on your back as he offered, "Here, try seventeen and let me see whatever the fuck it is you're doing." You took a breath to settle your frayed nerves. "Okay," you complained, and he removed his hand.

You started working on the problem. "Stop," Kuroo said. "What," you asked pausing your eraser. "That's right. Why are you erasing it," he asked. "That's right," you asked. "Yeah. That's right," he confirmed.

"But then what the fuck do you do with this? Because the equation has to be balanced. This can't just disappear," you pointed out. "You can ignore it because that just becomes water," he said. "What," you demanded. "Yeah," he said. "That's it," you asked. "That's it," he nodded. You stared down at the paper.

"But... That's fucking dumb. Why do I have to use these if not even all of it is- Fuck chem," you complained flopping your head down. Kuroo and Yaku just laughed at your pain.

"What happened," your dad asked as the door opened. "Kuroo murdered me with Molecular Geometry," you complained into the textbook. You felt Kuroo pat your head. "She's a surprisingly dumb genius," Kuroo noted. You lifted your arm to flip him off and he flicked your head. You sat up scowling at him.

"You can work out a whole physics formula in your head for any altercations to the variables in our experiment but you can't balance equations for shit," Yaku said to discretely break up the bickering that was about to start. "No, no, you can't balance them for shit. She overbalances them," Kuroo corrected.

"Child," your dad called. You lifted your head retuning his tone, "Adult." "We still on for dinner tomorrow night," he asked. "With...," you asked and trailed off. Azuna perked up excited. Your dad nodded. "Absolutely," you agreed. "I have to head back out for work in a half hour, so don't mind me milling about," he shared. You all nodded.

"With who," Kenma asked once the door to your dad's room closed. "A person," you said. "You know, there's no mood to tank this time since it pretty much died with your final braincells that were clinging on for dear life," Kuroo noted. "If she doesn't want to share stop trying to force her," Kenma noted. "No means no Kuroo," Yaku teased. "I was jus- I didn-," Kuroo started flustered.

You looked over and felt a little bad that he was in that spot now. He was just trying to be caring and it was blowing up in his face. Guilt tugged at you as you contemplated that he did have a point.

"My mom... isn't around anymore. She hasn't been for while. Since I can remember," you shared gently, "Before- before any of you say anything. It's fine, really. It's never been like... an issue. I never knew her to miss her. But people get kinda... "Woah" about it, you know? So, I usually try to avoid the whole mom died in childbirth thing in casual conversation, but not at someone else's expense."

Yaku opened his mouth as panic crossed his face. You braced trying your best to stave off the grimace forming. "Don't. Anything that's about to come out with that expression is going to be the wrong thing," Kuroo intervened gently. You just looked up at his side profile a bit thrown.

He sat with the same casual posture as if you had just mentioned the weather, not shared your tragic backstoryTM. You should probably hold off on the dark humor a little longer. You felt a constant set of staring eyes at the back of your head, though. Nekoma had certainly offered you a rare breed of humans to interact with. None of their responses were ones you'd ever be able to account for.

You looked back to see Kenma looking between Kuroo and yourself now. "Really," Kenma asked, almost sounding like he didn't believe you. "Yes," you answered confused. "I don't think you'd lie about that. I'm just-," Kenma started and trailed off before looking back at Kuroo. You looked between them confused. It felt like you had walked into a movie that was halfway through.

"I lost my mom too," Kuroo said finally turning to look at you. His face and voice expressed the same vulnerability that made you feel so small every time you had shared yourself. Your eyes were stuck on his amber ones as they held a disturbing sense of defenselessness. "Oh," you said a bit thrown. It was the opposite extreme from what you had witnessed outside the corner store. You felt conflicted with how open and exposed he was allowing himself to be with someone who was essentially a stranger just a few weeks ago. 

You turned to Azuna, needing to break from his intoxicating gaze. "Wait! Is that what you meant by "he'd understand"? You dick head," you asked laughing a bit.

"Why am I a dickhead? I can't out either of your personal shit and I know you're ass at trusting people," Azuna defended. "Are you talking back to me? I'm so proud," you exclaimed. Azuna sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Do people really get weird about it," Azuna asked a few seconds later. "Yes," you and Kuroo both answered before looking back at each other as if still trying to process the other understood this thing that had made you feel like such an outcast for so long.

An unspoken bond had been formed as you knew there was someone now that fully got it. You turned back to him as that validation of being seen and not being so alone started to set you on a high of comfort and confidence you couldn't find anywhere else. There was a level of security and trust you knew you wouldn't get from somewhere else.

"You ever get the I'm so sorry followed by them bringing you some sort of food or dessert in the next meet up," Kuroo asked. "Oh my god yeah! How about the reaction where they start crying and get mad at you for making them distraught," you asked. "Oh my god! Yeah," he exclaimed laughing. "People do that," Yaku asked horrified. "All the time," you nodded.

~~~~~  
~Kuroo~

"I'm headed out," (Y/n)'s dad shared. He was scarily like her. Kuroo had at least bounced off of his grandparents after he lost his mom, to form a distinguished personality, but she was entirely her dad and her life experiences.

It made sense now though. He was so off the mark, because he was doing the same thing in his calculations that she was doing with her chem. She's shockingly simple which is what makes her complex.

Single dad and on the move constantly. He probably would have ended up just as guarded if he was forced to move around more too. He had a place to make his roots.

Sir Reginald brushed against his side and he looked over petting the cat. The smaller black cat hopped into his lap and he smiled down at it. "Keep an eye on that cat, he might try to leave with bedhead over there," her father said. 

Kuroo realized he hadn't payed attention to a damn thing that had just happened. He also realized her dad was now calling him bedhead as well. A nickname that had surfaced this past week.

"It's fine, I'll just kill him," she teased. He thought back to her punching that guy in the face earlier. "Normally I'd say something witty, but after that guy you roughed up for harassing Azuna I'm a little worried," he noted. "Listen Tiger, as long as you don't give me a reason to kill you, I won't. The second I do get a reason, though, I won't hesitate! Bitch," she said laughing as she slid in a vine reference.

She was so fucking proud of herself for it too. "You're a dork," Kuroo said unable to bite back the smile. "I've been saying the same thing for years," her dad insisted letting the comment about roughing someone up slide, based on the hesitation in his tone. Kuroo looked over laughing.

Normally he hated new places, they made him feel like a scared kid again, but he never had that feeling when coming to this apartment. It was welcoming and relaxed. He found himself glancing back at (Y/n). He was pretty sure he liked her, but he still couldn't help but question if he liked her, or the idea of her.

Having someone who understood not having his mom was nice, but the idea of opening up about that more terrified him. Being that vulnerable wasn't something he was good at. He had time to get to know his mom before he lost her and that had really fucked with him. It was something he had really only ever talked to Kenma about, but even that wasn't until he knew Kenma for about a year or so.

And then that brought him into the spiral of just because he liked her didn't mean she liked him back. Yeah, she flirted... all the time, but that wasn't real. She flirted with everyone to hide behind it. She was even flirty with Azuna, especially if she knew it would fluster the girl.

It had taken him the past four months just trying to figure out if Azuna actually liked him or Kenma, but (Y/n) managed to solve it in two days. Which raised the question: for someone that intuitive, does she know how he feels and is just toying with him, or is she as clueless about things regarding herself as he is?

"Bye," the others called. He snapped from his spiralling thoughts to add a goodbye into the mix. Fuck. Had he been staring the whole time? How long did he zone out?

"It's going to storm later, we should probably head out soon," Yaku thought aloud as he looked at his phone.

Kuroo didn't want to leave. He wanted to observe, to get more information, to adjust the accuracy of his thoughts about this girl that was consuming his thoughts in his spare time. But Yaku was right.

~~~~~

Kuroo laid, staring at his ceiling, in his room. His mind had been spiraling through simulations for god only knows how long. A knock sounded at his door and he lifted his head knowing his family would just open the door right after if he didn't shout some form of "don't come in".

His grandmother stood in the doorway. "Hi sobo-chan," he said, sitting up confused. "Tetsu-kun," she said with a knowing playful scold. "What," he asked confused. Damn it! Did he mix up the weeks he was was supposed to get their groceries with mowing the lawn again?

"You didn't think I'd let you get away with going over to this (Y/l/n)-san's house without telling me about it," she said walking in and sitting beside him on his bed. "Just wrapping up our physics project," he brushed off. "This (Y/l/n) wouldn't happen to be a cutie," she asked.

How the hell does she always know?

"I know what my Tetsu-kun looks like when he's smitten. You also didn't seem to notice the thunder storm and I had even made your favorite dinner to take your mind off of it," she said smiling wide.

His cheeks burned as she pinched them. He only managed to muster a small, "Sorry," for inconveniencing her. "Don't worry about it. Your weirdo grandfather likes it better as left overs anyways, and I won't tell your father," she said with a wink.

"Sobo," he strained a bit distressed. "What? You've been skipping dinner to eat in your room at midnight, on the phone with Kenma, like a gremlin, you're always distracted, and you've been whistling and singing around the house when you do your chores," she laid out.

"So," he huffed defensively. "So, you only do that when you like someone," she pointed out. "Do not," he muttered. "You did it with Kenma, and Riku, and Amaya, and Eiko, and Yogi, and Masaaki-," she started to rattle off all his childhood crushes and he cut in, embarrassed, "Okay! Okay, I get it. Point made."

"Boy or girl," she asked, gently. "Girl," Kuroo shared, still hesitant. "Tell me about her," the older woman asked, smiling. He was just grateful she wasn't bringing up the excitement he knew she was stuffing down about the potential of great-grand-babies. Kuroo glanced at the door, praying his dad and grandfather were nowhere in earshot.

"Your Jiji is sleeping like the dead and your father's working late," his grandmother said, as if reading his mind. She always fucking knows. He sighed in defeat and sat back to lean against his wall. "Where to even start," he half muttered.


	4. McFartFace: The Origin

~Kuroo~

He sat in physics thinking of his grandmother's words.

"Let her get used to you."

"Let her get comfortable being around you."

"She probably hasn't gotten past those fears of not staying in one place yet." 

"Make yourself that constant you needed back then."

He could do that. That was what he does now for the rest of his team anyways. That'll bide more time to learn about her to sort his shit out. "Morning Tiger," she greeted, taking her seat across from him. "Quinine-chan," he greeted. 

Azuna sat beside (Y/l/n) and flopped her head on the girl yawning. He caught himself picturing himself in Azuna's spot and quickly shook the thought out of his head. "Where's Yaku," Azuna asked. "He should be coming. He was working with Lev on receives," Kuroo shared.

He started to work on his homework he had procrastinated on. He felt a foot tap against his own before staying there. He couldn't remember when it had started, but the gesture had become a routine for when he was getting too buried in his studies. 

Whenever he was getting too wrapped in his own head and people around him were trying to get his attention (Y/l/n) only had to tap her foot to his to let him know. Every time, it was enough to shake him out of his thoughts. Similarly when she was getting too stressed he'd place a hand on the back of her shoulder for the same effect.

He glanced up hearing Azuna start asking something. "What do you think? If we did a school dance to fundraise for the class trip in winter" Azuna asked. "Uh- sure. I mean, I don't see why it wouldn't work," Kuroo shrugged. 

Yaku rushed in just before the start bell. "I got hit in the fucking face and the dumbass gave me a fucking nosebleed," Yaku complained, referring to Lev. Kuroo laughed picturing the ordeal in his mind. He glanced back at (Y/n) who didn't seem to buy Yaku's story. There was no time to question it as their physics teacher walked in.

~~~~~

Kuroo sat in the grass to wait for the first group to finish. (Y/l/n) was sat beside him with a stop watch on her phone and her notebook open. He leaned over to get a better look and noticed Azuna doing the same. 

"Something's off," (Y/n) muttered after the first group missed. "What do you mean," Kuroo asked. "That should have hit," she declared, "Actually, that should have been a dead on hit with his pacing and their timing for the release." 

"Maybe it was just shaky because it was the first one," Yaku suggested. "No, it's Hashimoto-sensei. I don't think it's intentional," she started and covered her mouth to stop the flow of words. "Let's see if he does it again. Both groups get three tries right," Kuroo asked. (Y/l/n) nodded.

Again their group missed. 

"Sensei," (Y/l/n) called. He looked over to our group. "You're hesitating after they drop. Right before the marker for the point of impact. I know there isn't one, but I'm guessing you have it mentally marked as well. Both of those should have connected," she called out. 

"(Y/l/n)," Yaku scolded a bit startled by her lack of fear to talk back. "Am I? I guess I must admit, I'm not looking forward to being soaked for the rest of the day," Hashimoto chuckled. He didn't take her remark the wrong way.

They watched as on the final turn the balloon made impact. The team on the roof jumped up excited. "Good eye," Kuroo complimented. "Wouldn't have caught it without having to have mapped out your movements," she shrugged off. "I'd totally fail this class without you," Azuna said. "Likewise," Yaku laughed. 

"I see I'm chopped liver to you both now," Kuroo teased. "Well, you don't have her brain man," Yaku insisted. "Yeah, yeah. Let's head up to drop these balloons," Kuroo laughed off. "Gross. Movement," (Y/n) complained. "That sound familiar to you," Yaku asked laughing. "Kenma," Kuroo and Azuna jinxed shaking their heads.

~~~~~

Kuroo stood watching (Y/n) adjust and jot down the new measurements. "Carry the four," he said watching her write out the equation. She pointed to him with the end of her pencil to articulate she had heard him. 

His eyes shifted back up to watch the way her brows furrowed as she focused on the math. Her eyes scanning back and forth across the page like his own do with a volleyball court in a match. Her nose scrunched up as she finished the equation without her calculator. She must have done it a million times. 

"Ready," Azuna asked, snapping both of their attentions up. "Yaku here," (Y/n) ordered. "Kuroo," she said and he looked over surprised. "I want him to think there's an equal likelihood either of you will drop it. I just did out the difference for where Kuroo's going to be positioned," she declared. "But wouldn't that add another variable," Yaku asked. "The unit is learning how to apply the formulas right? So if we use the formula to compensate for the human error we're in the clear," she reasoned. "I trust your judgement," Kuroo shrugged taking his spot.

~~~~~  
~Your POV~

The balloon popped again and you stared down in disbelief. You had managed to hit the tack all three drops. Azuna pulled you into a tight hug and you tried to bite back the proud smile. You stood a bit shocked as Yaku put his hands up. You did the same and he slammed your hands for a double high five.

Kuroo just gave a gentle squeeze on the shoulder with a soft, "Good job (Y/n)." You stared at him in shock, clamming up as his attention was pulled away by Yaku. 

He just called you by your given name. That was the first time he had ever called you by your name. In a weird sense having it be in regards to praise for you academic achievements, you felt ...seen. 

Your cheeks started to burn as your heart pounded in your chest. 

Oh no! 

Oh no! Oh no! 

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! 

Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! 

You were starting to feel the crush take proper roots in your chest. You turned quickly and cleared your throat. "We should head back down so the other group can set up," you said and walked back for the stairs. His words echoed in your mind. It was just one sentence. Why does it have you feeling like this?

Your foot missed the last step and you slipped landing on your ass startled. Your back hit the edge of a stair on the way down. Azuna was panicked and you managed to laugh it off as Kuroo and Yaku erupted into a fit of laughter. You pulled yourself up, but your hands and knees were still shaking from the adrenaline coursing through your veins like an icy storm. Shouldn't that have hurt more? 

Azuna started to scold them and you took that moment to try and walk forward. You grimaced as the nerves across the bruise pinched. You paused trying to breathe through it. "(Y/n)," Kuroo asked worried now. 

You just nodded, clenching your jaw, trying to pass off you were fine. You opened the door and walked out, breathing through the burning in your lower back as the adrenaline started to fade. However, the less you felt the fight or flight, the more your back started to burn. 

"I'm sorry for laughing! I thought you were okay," Yaku panicked. "I'm fine," you hissed. "No, you're not," Kuroo insisted stopping in front of you. He took your shoulders scanning your face. "It's probably just a bruise," you breathed out, "I've pulled through for worse." You tried to force a smile on your face as you looked up to see a worried expression on his face as his eyes tried to find some sort of answer in you expression.

You walked past, patting the front of his shoulder to reassure him before taking a steady stride toward class. You kept ahead of them and focused on breathing. You can handle a little bruise. You were tougher than that. You took another deep breath. You took self defense classes for years. You could handle a tiny bruise. But if it was just a tiny bruise why did it feel like someone was stabbing needles in your back and ripping them through the muscle?

"(Y/n)," Azuna snapped. You looked over startled. Azuna had a deep set frown. You looked around for Kuroo and Yaku. "They went to tell Hashimoto that I'm taking you to the nurse," she said sternly. She took your arm and walked you past the classroom. 

"Azuna," you started before wincing at the sharp pain from the sudden movement. "You are not fighting me on this. Your hands and legs are shaking, you're starting to limp a little and your breathing is way too sharp for my liking. If the nurse clears you I will stop bugging you about it," she insisted stubbornly. You just clenched your jaw and conceded.

You knew how hard it was for her to go against her people pleasing nature. You weren't going to punish her for caring.

~~~~~

Azuna let you hold her hand as they examined your back. You hissed in pain squeezing onto her hand as the area around the epicenter of the bruise was pressed. You caught Azuna grimace and loosened your grip, letting go entirely. 

"I'm okay," she reassured. You shook your head not wanting to hurt her. "I need to know the difference of pain sweetheart. I have make sure so I don't give too strong or too weak of a painkiller," the nurse said with a deep set frown. You nodded trying to brace. "(Y/n) just take my hand please," Azuna pleaded. "No, I don't want to hurt you. It's fine," you insisted. 

Quick footsteps rushed through the door. "Hashimoto said he can excuse us to stay with her until this over," Kuroo said walking in. "He's stronger! Take his," Azuna suggested. "I am fine Azuna," you growled through gritted teeth. "Take my what," Kuroo asked. "Hand. So she has something to brace with when I check the center," the nurse said. "Worried about hurting Azuna," he asked knowingly. 

You avoided his eyes. "I'm fine. Just get it over with," you insisted. "Sweetheart, I'm barely putting any pressure on the area on the edges. You're going to hit the table or yourself if it is what I think it is," the nurse shared. "It's fine," Kuroo said softly. 

You dragged your hands down your face grumbling out a question, "What do you think it is?" "It looks like you pinched your nerve," she said. "Oh mother-," you groaned cutting yourself off. You took Kuroo's hand in yours. You had done this before. Nausea from the pain had subsided a bit once your hand fit into his. "Not again," you muttered bowing your head as you mentally prepared for what you knew was coming. 

"Agai-," Kuroo started and a flaming jolt erupted from your back. 

You yelped out in pain, despite your best efforts and white spots started to cloud your vision. Something had grabbed your other wrist that hand instinctively slammed toward the bench. 

"I-is she breathing? I don't think she's breathing! Kuroo! Y-," Azuna's voice panicked but you couldn't focus on it for too long.

White hot pain poured through your back, like the flashes of it since the fall. Yeah that was a pinched nerve alright. Sweat started to collect on your brown and you couldn't even try to open your eyes. 

It hurts. It hurts so fucking bad. 

"(Y/n), (Y/n). Breathe. Hey, I know it sucks like an absolute bi- like hell," Kuroo's voice coached, "But you have to breathe through the pain first." You nodded clenching onto his hand still. You strained in shaky and shallow breaths. The kind when you're trying to get through the burn of your legs completely falling a sleep and stinging to life. 

Your breathing hitched as something made contact with your back. It was cold but the light pressure applied to your wound caused a whimper to escape you as a third hand grabbed your shoulder. 

You managed to crack your eyes open, from behind the built up tears, to see Kuroo crouched in front of you. A heart broken frown, soaked with worry, rested on his face. Your knuckles had turned white gripping onto his hand so tightly. He squeezed back, as if to say he was okay. It was Kuroo's hand that was holding up your shoulder. Who had your wrist? 

You managed to slightly turn your head, just enough to spot Yaku, still holding your wrist and he rambled, "And while I'm at it, care to explain that again?" "Oh good, my hearing blacked out for Yaku's lecture," you said with a dry laugh. "Hey, Quinine-chan," Kuroo said sounding relieved. You turned your head back, to flash a tired smile. 

"I did dance. We had this lift once and I had to, straight, squat an eleven year old when I was thirteen. We went too fast and her foot on my back, slid and dug. Right on the nerve," you shared. "Oh christ," Yaku said as you caught Kuroo grimace. 

"So then you should be aware of what the nurse advised," Azuna asked from behind you. You closed your eyes again and nodded. 

You took in the smell of the lidocaine cream that came from behind you and the cheap deodorant and fragranced oil coming from Kuroo in front of you. He smelled like something familiar but you couldn't pin it. The distraction was enough to help ground you as the pain continued to subside. 

You were aware that you would normally feel terrible for inconveniencing them like this. For being so needy and such a hassle. After that wave of pain however, you couldn't be more glad to have them. 

A part of you felt selfish for your lack of guilt and worry for their own states of being. The last time you had gone through this, however, you were completely alone with the school nurse while the rest of you friends had continued through club without you. 

This time however, this time you had Azuna's stubborn nature to force you to get the wound checked out and to keep from hurting yourself further, you had Yaku to scold you for being so stubborn and not coming here right away, and the warmth of Kuroo's presence as he let you continue to grip onto his hand even after the nurse or Azuna had finished putting on the lidocaine cream after the pressure check.

"Rest, over the counter lidocaine cream, avoid hitting it on things," you said. You let go of Kuroo's hand and gently sat yourself up. "Thank you, all three of you," you said starting to try and compose yourself again. 

~~~~~

"You're not seriously going to try to go to class," Yaku asked worried. "There's nothing else I can do. It's not like I'm going to be running around. I'm just sitting through classes," you pointed out. 

"Fine," Kuroo said in his captain voice, commanding your attention to the serious expression in his amber eyes as he continued, "But if it gets bad again you're going either straight home or waiting it out in the nurses' office." The statement wasn't the least bit open ended and his tone definitely implied that it was certainly not up for debate. You gave a nod in reply, "I promise." 

~~~~~  
~Kuroo's POV~

Other than some more fidgeting in her seat than normal the day proceeded like any other. Although, Azuna and Yaku were constantly asking her how she was feeling and it was clear that was annoying her. "Guys, lay off," he hissed as they went to ask again. "Is something the matter back there," the professor asked. Calculus. She hated them. "No," Kuroo said quickly. 

He had already messaged Kai and Nekomata about the situation and Yaku offered to stay back and help Kai hold down the fort. Just had to wait until the bell rang to force her to properly take care of herself. Azuna had also dropped her club activities for the afternoon. 

They all had no doubt that (Y/n) did not tell her father AND that she would try to stay in the library or walk home on her own. Like hell they were going to let that happen. 

The bell went off and Kuroo and Azuna bolted from their seats. "What are you guys doing? You have a council meeting and you have practice. Don't be late," (Y/n) said. "Already messaged the club advisor and club's vice president," Azuna declared. "We're walking you home and staying until your dad gets there," Kuroo insisted. 

"I don't need babysitters, really. I'm fi-," (Y/n) started but Azuna cut her off, losing her temper as she slammed her hands down on her best friend's desk, "Stop saying that! You are not fine! You are far from fine! You can't sit in any one position for more than five minutes without wincing! You pinched a serious nerve, and I don't give a damn that you've gone through this before on your own! For the love of Sir Reginald, let us help you! You need it!"

Kuroo stood just as shocked and (Y/n) and the nearby classmates. He had never so much as heard the small girl raise her voice before, yet, here she was chewing out her newfound best friend. 

(Y/n) nodded shaking her head with a light chuckle, "Fine." Azuna let out huff, relaxing. Kuroo patted Azuna's shoulder a bit hesitantly.

~~~~~

Kuroo walked into the apartment with the bags lidocaine cream, Tylenol, and snacks he had been tasked with getting, so Azuna could get (Y/n) home and resting her back as soon as possible. 

Kuroo set the bags on the table and locked the door as he scooped up the black cat and cradling it like it seemed to adore. He set the cat down before grabbing his track pants and tee shirt from his gym bag to go change in her bathroom. 

He walked out holding his uniform in hand as Azuna called his name. "Yeah," he asked. "Did Sir Reginald get out," she asked. "Not unless you opened the door after I came in here to change," he noted. 

"Then he has to be i- oh. There he is," Azuna said cutting off her own rambling as the cat brushed against Kuroo's leg. "Can you go sit with her. I'm going to make some food," Azuna asked. Kuroo nodded to say of course and stuffed his clothes in his bag before turning for her room. 

He spotted her in the desk chair watching the rain start to fall. He knew the extent of the pain. Her grip had been intense, but he already missed the way her hand fit in his own. "Shouldn't you be laying down," he questioned. "I want to watch the storm," she said softly. He didn't argue with her and just sat on the bed. 

He was grateful Sir Reginald acted as a distraction. He wasn't exactly big on storms. He wasn't deathly afraid, but they did put him on edge. It didn't help that he was already worried about her. She seemed deep in thought. She must get in her own head a lot too. 

"Tetsurou," she started hesitantly. He felt his mouth hang open a bit at the use of his given name. The way it so effortlessly left her mouth. "Y-yeah," he stammered out. "Thank you. For being stubborn. And just being there. And understanding," she said still staring out the window. 

"That's just how we are. You're stuck with us now. No matter how you might try to shake us. You'll always have a place here," he reminded. She only seemed to frown with a conflicted expression in response, as her eyes scanned outside her window.

"Quit trying to steal my cat," she said standing up as the rain came down harder. "I'm not even trying at this point," he admitted chuckling. She walked over and crawled under the covers beside him. "I can't pull so hard. Get off of my blankets," she complained. "As you wish. Grumpy," he teased. "I'm not grumpy, you're just too cheery," she said as he shifted to let her hug the blankets in tighter as she laid on her stomach. 

He shifted to lay on his side so he could see her face when she turned her head. The edges of her expressions tended to twitch when her mask betrayed her honest voice. He was better at reading her, but he still couldn't shake her from his head. 

"How are you, actually," he asked once her (e/c) eyes greeted his own. She opened her mouth. "You're not allowed to say you're fine, alright, or okay. I held your hand through you blacking out in pain earlier," he declared. 

He just wanted to wrap his arms around her and fix it somehow. He felt terrible for laughing now that he knew how bad it was. She had masked the pain so well.

"It's starting to hurt," she admitted softly. He pulled the cream out of his pocket asking, "Do you want more lidocaine?" Her eyes squeezed shut as she nodded her head. He sat up moving the cat. She had pulled the cat closer, trying to distract herself. He pulled the sheets back and lifted the back of her shirt. The dark bruise across her lower back stared back at him.

It was pretty fucking gnarly. 

He started to rub the topical pain relief into her back but paused when she flinched. His heart broke a little to see he had caused any pain. But he'd only covered half the wound. If he stopped now she'd only end up in more pain. 

He sat back catching his own hands shaking a little. He hated seeing her hurt. He hated knowing that helping only caused pain. He fixed her shirt and the blankets and sat against her headboard only to flinch at the crack of thunder right above the building. 

"Tiger, you alright," she asked, gently. He nodded quietly. "Jus- never really liked storms," he admitted. "Why not," she asked curiously, there was no teasing lilt to her voice. He sighed and shifted back down as Sir Reginald tried to climb onto his shoulder. He stared at the ceiling and clenched his jaw as the thunder struck again. 

"Even when I was a kid, I didn't really like them. Before we came to move in with my grandparents, right after my mom died, my dad was called into work during a typhoon. So, I was stuck, home alone, for the first time during a pretty gnarly storm. My grandparents stayed on the phone with me until power cut out," he shared. "That sounds fucking terrifying," she declared. He shrugged it off. 

"So why do you enjoy storms," he asked, turning to look at her face. "Sometimes, my dad would have to travel for these company sponsored festivals. So, I usually had to do homeschooling and join him for those festivals, since we don't really have any family, aside from my mom's sister that lives in Brazil. Storms always guaranteed he was home, or wherever we called home at the time. We would just hang out, watching old movies and the storm," she shared.

The room lit up with the reflection of the nearby lightening as the thunder cracked through the building causing Kuroo to feel it rattle in his bones.

"Your hands are shaking," she declared. "They do that," he tried to shrug off. "When you're stressed, yeah. But I've never seen them do it when there's not a physics or calculus problem in front of you," she pointed out. "Is there anything you don't notice," he asked. 

Her eyes locked on with his as she answered, "I'm sure there is, tiger, but I wouldn't be able to tell you what I don't notice because I don't notice it." "You're talking more, so fortunately you're feeling better. Unfortunately, however, you're talking more which is only harming what's left of my sanity," he teased. "Tough shit," she laughed reaching over to pet her cat as it rested on Kuroo's chest. 

"Where'd Azuna run off to," (Y/n) asked. "Making food last she told me," he shared. She froze and Kuroo raised an eyebrow confused. "Fuck," she muttered and sat up. He sat up setting the cat down and grabbed her shoulder, "You're supposed to be resting." 

"No, no, no I-," she started and looked at her closet as he eyes started to gloss over, "I- My dad's- I can't let him down. I have to get ready. I promised I would go with him to dinner with this girl he's been seeing and she makes him the happiest I've seen him in forever and he was really excited for me to go to this dinner and meet her and I can't-" 

Kuroo held onto both of her shoulders, "(Y/n), you really should have come home to rest your back right away. You're in no position to go out," he said gently. Her face dropped as she seemed to shrink and come to the realization that he was right. Her mouth and eyebrows twitched as she tried to hold back tears. "He'll understand," Kuroo reassured. Her face started to scrunch up as the tears welled in her eyes. 

He pulled her in from her shoulders gently and wrapped her in a hug. "Why are you hugging me," she strained. "Because you're my friend, and you're sad, and this is what friends do," he declared. She relaxed and leaned into the embrace before her hands gripped onto the sides of his shirt like a scared kid. 

Damn.

He was really falling for her wasn't he?

His heart ached as she tried to stifle sniffles and sobs. She was just a hurt kid, trying to pretend she wasn't so scared of the world. Her shell was tough and sharp and she was quick to distance herself, but that was only because when she did let someone in she gave so much of herself that she wound up putting her own needs aside. 

She risked getting in trouble to help another group of students she barely knew because it was the right thing to do and no one else could, she stepped in to fight someone taller and probably stronger because her friend was in danger, she tried to fight through the pain of pinched nerve to keep from inconveniencing her new friends, she let go of a hand to brace on to protect her friend from getting hurt even if it meant she might hurt herself.

Hell, she risked burning bridges with the first person she interacted with in this new place because she thought her new found friend might be interested in him. She was selfless and brave, and kind and that was enough for him to know he wasn't falling for the idea of her. He liked the crass humor and faux flirting just as much as he liked the vulnerable moments like this. 

He decided then, in that moment, he was going to be her constant. Like Kenma and his grandparents had been for him. And he was going to help her build up a circle of other constants. 

"Fall," she said softly. "Hm," he asked confused. "That's what it is, you smell like fall. I noticed it when trying to ground myself earlier today," she mumbled into his shoulder. "Is that good or bad," he chuckled. "Good, I guess," she said snarkily. "Why are you getting an attitude with me Quinine-chan," he teased. "Because I feel like shit and you sound all smug, so someone has to bring you down a peg," she declared. 

"No! Sir REG-," she started. He glanced back to see the cat lift it's tail before farting in its own face and jumping up startled. Kuroo erupted in a fit of laughter before the smell hit him. "Oh GOD! WHat died in his ass," Kuroo demanded burying his face in her shoulder as he shifted to pull her up gently. "I named him McFartFace for a reason," she declared, grabbing a blanket as they made their way out of the room. 

"He does that often!?"

"He gave himself pink eye from that!" 

"Wait, no, (Y/n) don't fuck with me!"

"Why would I lie about that!?"

"That's hysterical!"

"OI! You were supposed to keep her from over exerting herself!" 

"Sorry Azuna."  
"Sorry Azuna!"


	5. Rescheduling Dinner

~Your POV~

"You need to call him," Azuna said sitting on the other side of you on the couch. You were facing the same issue you had for all of class. You weren't necessarily in pain, but your weren't... not, in pain either. There was just enough discomfort that sitting upright was not a fun time. You nodded and pulled out your phone. 

The door opened causing all three of you to look over. "Dad," you asked, confused. He looked at the three of you confused. "What are you doing home," he asked. "I'll get to that, what are you doing home" you questioned. "I might have left work early to get ready. I thought you said you would be staying after to work on you calculus work," your dad asked. 

"I... might have... gotten hurt at school," you started. Your heart sunk as your dad's eyes widened. "(Y/n)," Kuroo said in his stern captain voice as you tried to downplay what happened. 

You avoided your dad's eyes, "I tripped on the stairs and pinched a nerve in my back." "Why the hell didn't you call me," your dad asked, setting his stuff down. "I didn't want to worry you. I was oka-," you started and heard Azuna hum so you changed your words, "I dealt with it before so I thought I could manage again. I just had to sit through classes. I'm sorry dad. I know how much this dinner meant to you tonight and I-" Your voice caught in your throat. 

"Hon," your dad eased gently now in front of you. 

You didn't realize you had been leaning into Kuroo's side until you had to straighten up as your dad pulled you into a gentle and hesitant hug. "It's her lower back that got bruised," Azuna shared. You clutched on tightly and tried to fight back the tears once more. 

"I don't- it's a dinner. Rescheduling isn't the end of the world. I'm upset that you didn't call me or text me after getting hurt," he said with a wavering voice, "You're my daughter! It's my job to worry about you." "I was just about to call. They've been on my case about it all day. I jus- you were at work-," you started. "To hell with work! You come first. You always come first," he insisted. You nodded into his shoulder. 

"Did you at least manage it," your dad asked softly. "I applied some of the lidocaine a little after she was cleared by the nurse. And you took Tylenol in the middle of the day. You should actually be due for another application," Azuna shared. "Reapplied about fifteen minutes ago so another few hours before more tylenol and then one last application before you crash should do the trick," Kuroo shared. 

"Thank you both," your dad said over your shoulder, "You don't have to stay. I'll call to cancel and stay-" "No," you blurted out sitting up and winced at the sharp movement, "I don't want you to have to cancel because of me." "(N/n)," he started softly. 

"If it would be alright with you we could stay. We both called out of our club activities to make sure she takes care of herself," Kuroo asked. "Yaku and Kenma also mentioned they want to stop by and check in on you. Especially so Yaku can chew you out properly for worrying him," Azuna shared. 

You looked at your dad pleading. "Please, don't cancel," you begged. He sighed reluctantly and kissed the top of your head. "Okay but I'm coming home early because the weather is supposed to get worse," he insisted. You nodded quietly feeling the weight of an elephant lift from your shoulders. 

~~~~~

You were leaned against Azuna with your head in her lap as your legs were stretched across Kuroo. As you silently watched the show on the tv, you found yourself questioning how you had let these two people get so close to you in just two weeks. It felt like you had known them for your whole life at this point. They managed to cut through all of your defenses in two weeks. A feat that often took others your entire five to eight months in a place to get remotely close too. 

Opening up about your mother had only happed with four other friends over seven moves. Anyone else that found out had learned it by looking you up and her obituary popping up, or word of mouth after one person would find out.

Somehow, despite all of the walls and defense mechanisms, it was two weeks into attending Nekoma and you had four good friends with whom you trusted to stay in your apartment and take care of you. But soon you'd all be going to university. Letting them this close was only going to hurt so much more when the time came that you'd all have to say goodbye. This time you didn't want to let go.

It had been only two weeks and you had found yourself so incredibly attached to these people. They were weird and quirky and your normal methods didn't seem to scare them but only entertain them. It felt like you were welcome and this was a place you were meant to be, but you knew better than anyone how unstable the rug beneath your feet was.

The worst part was you knew how attached they had grown to you as well. Azuna was stubborn and willing speak up if you were being reckless, something you knew was not only difficult, but terrifying for the girl with her home life. Kenma had found a person he could comfortably communicate with which was rare with his social anxiety. Yaku had found someone who he could turn to for advice when Kuroo was being a little shit. 

And Kuroo... 

Kuroo was complicated. 

Kuroo and Azuna had been the ones to open up to you the most during your two weeks. He worried with Yaku like a protective older brother, but bantered with you like an old married couple. 

You still felt guilty, knowing his shaking hands had been that way all day. Ever since you had gotten hurt. It wasn't just the storm putting him on edge, it was you being in pain. 

And Azuna had formed a tough shell the more you tried to deny your pain or play down how you were feeling. 

You could only imagine how worried Yaku and Kenma were right now.

~~~~~  
~Kuroo's POV~

"I think she crashed," Azuna muttered. "It was a pretty long day," he noted absentmindedly. He looked over to see Azuna stroking (Y/n)'s hair. (Y/n) who had traditionally been the caretaker looked so small as she slept in her friend's lap. The neutral expression betrayed the tough outer shell she tried to portray. 

"She looks so... small, and young," Azuna noted with a frown. "You don't sound so happy about that," Kuroo noted. "She's just... She was always," Azuna started but tripped up on her own words, "I got used to her being this protector. She always seemed to be so tall." "That could be the platform boots," Kuroo joked. 

She chuckled lightly. They fell back into silence for a moment after. His eyes drifted back down to (Y/n). The way it had contorted and scrunched before she sobbed came back to mind and his heart twisted in his chest.

"You know what's weird," Azuna thought aloud. Kuroo lifted his eyes from the gentle sleeping face of (Y/n) to raise an eyebrow. "She's only been here two weeks," Azuna said. The fact slapped him across the face. "It feels like a lot longer," he admitted. 

"I don't think I've ever seen you so scared," Azuna said with a slight smirk. As much as he hated being on the spot he was glad their friendship was helping the girl break out of her shell more. 

"I don't think I've ever seen you so assertive," he teased. "She's made quite the impact in just two weeks," Azuna noted looking back at her friend. "She'll never know it either," He said sadly and hugged her knees in his lap a bit. 

"You've got it bad, don't you," Azuna asked chuckling. "Even Sobo has picked up on it," he admitted. "You're not denying it," Azuna asked a bit shocked. "I tried. It didn't work. You can't always hide from storms. Sometimes you just have to endure them," He shrugged. "You really are just a dopey nerd huh? And to think I was scared of you," Azuna thought aloud. 

"You were scared of me," He asked feeling guilty. "You're a giant, and one of the more muscular boys in out year so you could definitely kill me, and you always have a devious little smug smirk, and you look like a scary grungy rocker dude that hangs out in alleyways," she defended, "But you're this dopey chemistry nerd who gossips with his grandma about his crush apparently." 

He chuckled shaking his head. "Is that why you always got so flustered," he asked. "I thought you'd murder me," she insisted. "Kenma would murder me if I even though about it," he countered. 

Azuna looked hesitant and shocked but, he knew (Y/n) had told Azuna. She had asked him if she should. Of course he said yes. Kenma was hopeless. He deserved to be happy, but he'd let all of real life and the tough shit pass him by if he could. Kenma, now at least, was too... reserved? Neutral? Maybe even apathetic towards conversations. But when talks about Azuna the kid lights up like a Christmas tree.

"I know she told you by the way. I'm the one who told her too. He's super oblivious to anything romantic and always second guesses himself. His anxiety is also way too high to ever try anything that would resemble flirting or asking someone out, but he does like you," Kuroo shared. 

"Have other people tried to ask him out? You really seem to know a lot," she noted. "Only a handful of times when we were younger. I also had a thing for him at one point, before we were even in Junior High, but he's straight," Kuroo said chuckling a bit, "It took him until like last year, so two relationships on my part, for him to be comfortable teasing me about it because he didn't want to hurt my feelings." 

"O-oh. You're bi," she asked a bit shocked. He nodded with a shrug. "Me too," she said and flashed him finger guns. He flashed them back. He stopped and looked at the tv before looking at Azuna, "Do- Did you," he started trying form the question gently. "Have a crush on her? Briefly. But she's straight and I had stronger feelings for Kenma anyways," she shared. 

"You're really just going to have to go for it with that one," Kuroo thought aloud. "I'm going to advise the total opposite approach for this one," Azuna advised pointing to (Y/n). "Oh trust me I know," Kuroo sighed. 

~~~~~

"Yaku has to be losing his mind right now," Azuna thought aloud. "I told him to just come with us," Kuroo thought aloud. "You know he would never. Him not showing up to club unless he mortally wounded, is basically impossible," she declared. 

"Lev is also pretty good at calling him out when he gets too panicky," Kuroo added. "He has no idea we know, does he," she asked. "No. And he'd probably burst a blood vessel if he ever found out we know. You saw how he freaked when (Y/n) teased him about it," he said. 

They both fell into a comfortable silence but it wasn't long before (Y/n) murmured, "Dad." Kuroo and Azuna both sat up a bit straighter. "It's me," (Y/n) mumbled sadly. Kuroo felt his heart ache as he knew the type of nightmare she was having. "(Y/n)," Azuna eased softly, brushing her fingers through the sleeping girl's hair, "(Y/n), it's just a bad dream. You're okay." 

(Y/n) took in a sharp breath and jolted but mostly stayed in place before wincing, "Son of a bitch." The three sat in a tense silence as (Y/n) took a second to breath through the pain she probably just sparked from that jolt. 

"How long was I out," she asked sitting up slowly. She had effectively aged a good ten to twenty years as the worn down and exhausted expression returned. "Half an hour-ish? Maybe less," Azuna answered. Kuroo just found himself watching silently. "Sorry," (Y/n) apologized. "You have nothing to be sorry about," Azuna said point blank. 

He caught her wince at the her own words as if instantly regretting her own tone. 

There was a buzz and Kuroo stood, walking over as Yaku started to text him that he was there with Kenma. He rolled his eyes with a smile as he unlocked the door. 

"What in the fuck is that," (Y/n) demanded looking at the basket in Yaku's arms. "The guys on the team insisted on doing something after they found out," Yaku shared. 

"How did you even manage it," Kenma asked as they closed the door behind them. "I missed the last step and fell just right," (Y/n) said eyeing the package a bit in horror. "There's nothing to be scared about, I checked," Yaku shared. "Team mom," Kuroo teased. He jumped back as Yaku tried to kick him

~~~~~  
~Your POV~

For the past week an a half you had been managing the pinched nerve. It was a seemingly endless ache only strong enough to be annoying, barring any sudden and sharp movements. 

The mom squad, in tandem with your father, had mapped out someone to be with you during reapplication times if need be. Even though you had been managing just fine on your own now the pain had subsided. 

You had shuffled between hanging out at student council and sitting in for the volleyball practices with the guys. When you weren't studying, Nekomata took pity on you and let you manage tasks that wouldn't agitate the nerve further so you felt like you were being productive and giving back in some way.

You sat on the bench working on your calculus work when Lev towered beside you blocking most of the natural light seeping into the gym. 

You looked over at the giant, greeting, "Hi Lev. Is there something you need to talk to me about?" "Inuoka said I'm your favorite first year so you might be more likely to agree if I asked," Lev said. "Dude," Inuoka whined from a short distance off. You laughed and the brutal honestly of Lev. He was oblivious and a chaotic sweetheart. "I don't have favorites," you declared. 

A familiar walking furnace stood behind your right shoulder and you knew he'd comment. "You fucking liar," Kuroo said, dipping his head next to yours from behind so you could see his face. You lazily shifted your gaze to meet his. A smug smirk rest on his face as mischief seemed to legitimately sparkle in his amber eyes. That pretty little asshole. 

"Don't project your favorites as my own Tetsurou," you scolded. "Ooo angry first name," he declared bobbing his head back before you could whack him. You shook your head chuckling. "Kuroo has favorites," Yamamoto asked from a bit off. "No," Kuroo said quickly as you answered, "Yes." You smiled as his face dropped once Yamamoto ran up to grill him about it. 

"So what is Inuoka-kun trying to get you to ask," you questioned turning back to Lev. "Oh well, I'm curious about it too," he admitted, "would you consider managing for us? Yaku said that you were also planning to stick out for the rest of the year past summer and we'd like you to join us for the summer camp because Yaku-senpai and Kuroo-senpai don't get as stressed with you around. Even Kenma-san relaxes. But you'd need to be a manager for at least a week before the summer break." 

You looked at him a bit shocked. It was the fist time you had been asked to stick around. It was also the first time you had been asked to join a club. Summers were almost guaranteed to be a touring time though. "Please," Inuoka pleaded, now beside Lev. You looked between the two pleading underclassmen, hesitantly. 

"What are you guys harassing her about now," Kai asked as he walked over with Fukunaga. Kai's remark had also pulled Kuroo's, Yamamoto's and Yaku's attention. "We were just asking if she'd consider managing," Inuoka declared with an innocent smile. 

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider," you admitted, garnering a shocked look from Yaku, Kuroo, and Kai, "But, I mean it's so late in the year, I'm a third-year, I have no clue what I'd be doing, and there's no guarantee I'll even be around during the summer." 

"Be around during the summer," Yamamoto asked in panic. You caught worry lace through Kuroo's and Yaku's expressions. "I-I'm not moving," you blurted quickly trying to reassure them, "Jus- my dad usually does these tour-festival things for work over summer and I usually go with him, instead of staying home alone."

The relief you saw wash over Kuroo and Yaku only added weight to your chest. The guarantee of you sticking around was only temporary though. One day that talk would be for real. 

"You pretty much do everything a manager does anyways though," Shibiyama pointed out. "Getting a manager late, kinda beats not having one at all, too," Fukunaga added. "If you're actually interested in it you should just go for it," Kenma shrugged, speaking up. He quickly added, "Stop looking at me." 

"B-I mean I also don't know anything about volleyball," you pointed out. Yaku grabbed Kuroo's shoulder, "We'll teach you." "I wouldn't mind the help," Coach Naoi admitted. You looked over not realizing he had been listening in. 

You glanced back at Kuroo. He had yet to voice his thoughts or opinions on the matter. In sense you worried about intruding on their club and their space. If he, Kenma, or Yaku showed any sign of not wanting you there you'd drop it entirely. He was arguably the most important of the three to you, and he was the only one not to jump at the idea. 

"Don't look at me," he said quickly, "I'd love to have you around to bug more often and yell at these idiots, but this is your choice. Don't defer to any of us. If you want to do it go for it, but if you don't, then don't feel like you have to." "Yeah if anyone of them gives you hard time about either choice we'll handle it," Yaku threatened. "With words," Kai scolded the libero.

Oh. He jus- he just didn't want to force you in a tough spot. 

You looked at the calculus in your lap and looked back up declaring, "Then I'll take the application," you started and they burst into a chorus of cheers, "BUT," you cut in above them causing them to groan in complaint, "I still need to talk to my dad about summer." 

Naoi's phone went off and you watched as he stepped away.

"Can't you just stay with your mom," Lev asked. You prayed you managed to hide the instinctual grimace. Yaku kicked Lev in the back. "I can't," you said point blank. "Dude if she's going obviously her mom is too," Inouka scolded Lev. You didn't correct them. 

"I'm sure it'd still be fine for you to manage even if you can't do the summer," Kuroo cut in to change the topic. "Yeah, there's still the qualifiers in winter and then, nationals in the upcoming spring," Kai shared. "YES," the rest of the boys shouted excited. You laughed a bit at their reactions. Your eyes glanced back toward Kuroo on instinct and he was walking off.

You looked back to the others trying to hide the worry that you had upset him in some way. There had been many fights and lost friends over you trying to take root in places that others had deemed their spot of safety for so long. He was the first person you had somewhat befriended, and he was the one person who you had opened up to the most so far. He was the last person you wanted to upset. 

A hand rested on your shoulder, breaking you from the mental spiral as the boys walked back to the court. You looked over a bit startled to see Kuroo back by your side. A genuine smile beamed at you making the previous spiral fade away. Sometimes he was just really sweet and gentle.

"Thought I'd grab it before they did anything stupid to make you get cold feet," he said holding out the paper. You took the application and smiled back up at him relieved to see him trying to hide his excitement, though his slight bounce in his step and his smile that twitched to keep from growing gave him away. "I wouldn't mind getting to bug you some more," he admitted before headed back to his team.

You looked back down at the application. "You seem to be the only other person besides Kenma, that get's that boy to react that way," Nekomata declared with a knowing smile.

~~~~~

You stood outside the convenience store while Kenma, Yaku, and Azuna were inside. "How's your back," Kuroo asked. "Same as always," you shrugged with a half-hearted laugh. He nodded and seemed to be wrapped up in his own thoughts again.

You nudged him with your elbow and he looked over confused. "You're spiralling," you shared, "You've been doing it kind of a lot lately." "I'm alright," he waved off. "Tetsurou," you started. You tried to bite back the smile as he rolled his eyes melodramatically before asking, "Why must you only use my given name when I'm in trouble?" "You're not in trouble. And you actually listen when I call you by your given name. So I must use it sparingly," you replied.

"Damn you for making sense," he countered. You rested a hand on his arm before asking, "Talk to me?" His eyes seemed to linger on your face before glancing back at his feet as he seemed to contemplate doing so. 

You recognized the look on his face. It was that distant far away look he had gotten talking about why he hated storms. "Is it about your mom," you asked gently. He nodded still unable to look at you. "You don't have to talk about it. If you need to I'm here. If you need the others buffered I got your back," you reassured. 

He finally lifted his head and held your gaze with a bittersweet smile. "Thank you," he said softly. "Just returning the favor," you said and quickly added, "Thank you, by the way. For that topic change, earlier, I mean." He didn't answer. He just smiled softly with a small nod and held your gaze. Your chest tightened as those evil little butterflies fluttered up from your stomach. 

"What," you asked feeling a bit panicky. His smiled grew as he shook his head chuckling, "You don't do well with silence, do you?" "I am just fine with silence, thank you very much," you insisted stubbornly. Just not when he looks at you like that. Not when he's all soft and sweet. 

"Bullshit," he argued. "Not bullshit," You countered. You felt a flick on your ear and whipped your head to look at him shocked. "Oh you have to have a death wish," you insisted. "You think you can kill me? Cute," he teased back leaning down a bit to mock you for not also being a giant. You pouted before pulling your hair-tie off of your wrist and twisting it around your finger to wasp sting him on the chin. "You little shit," he yelped jumping back. 

Yaku practically sprinted over. You looked at Kuroo who was just as curious. "Kenma and Azuna are flirting," Yaku hissed, "Like proper flirting!" "What," You and Kuroo both demanded. You ran to the window and crouched with the boys to spy on Azuna and Kenma. She was smiling wide with a light blush as he seemed to be openly talking. You all ducked as his head whipped toward the three of you. "We're so dead," Kuroo muttered.


	6. As Opposed To Theoretically Hating Me?

You walked with Kuroo toward his house. "Any reason in particular you were avoiding the volleyball team today," he asked. "I was kinda hoping Kenma and Yaku would be tagging along because I wanted to tell you guys my decision first," you admitted. "Oh," he questioned, "Only twenty four hours later and you already have a decision?'

You looked over at the teasing smile. "Wel- yeah. I jus- I wanted to make sure you guys were actually really okay with me-," you started off and found yourself cut off as he nearly jumped up with a beaming smile while he blurted, "You're doing it!?" 

"I guess that answers my question if you guys are actually comfortable with me joining on," you thought aloud. "Of course we want you to manage! You're our friend, dick head," he argued. You couldn't fight off the smile as you rolled your eyes. "You're a dork," you insisted. "This dork is not afraid to teach you chem incorrectly so you fail," he pointed out. 

You pulled your cheek down as you stuck your tongue out. He flicked your forehead and you swatted his hand away.

"But no, really. If you have any issue at all with me being in your space-," you started and he cut you off, "It's your space too. You've lived here for over a month now." He turned walking backwards so he was facing you as he took a few paces back, "I'm going to start getting offended if you keep acting like this isn't your home too." "Waaah," you replied sarcastically. "I swear," he started, trying not to laugh. 

"You better not cuss or your Jiji will have an absolute fit and blame me for your dirty mouth," an older woman cut in. You smiled warmly as Kuroo perked up and rushed over to help her with her bag of groceries. "What is this? I told you I'd run to the store later," he worried. 

Kuroo Tetsurou was a sweet dork that doted on his grandmother. 

"Oh, I'm not that old yet. I can handle the grocery store! You still haven't introduced me to your friend. I thought I raised you better. Where's Yaku and Kenma I bought stuff to make apple pie," the woman questioned as she playfully scolded him. A lot of his stronger personality traits were glaring back at you through her actions. 

"Right! Uh, (Y/n) this is my grandmother. Sobo-chan this is (Y/f/n) from school. Yaku is helping to train one of the first years and Kenma has to go out to dinner with his parents," Kuroo shared. "Nice to meet you," you greeted bowing politely. "Tetsu-kun! You didn't mention she was so pretty," his grandmother shared, "With how much you talk about the famed (Y/l/n)-chan you'd think you'd have the decency to let me know." 

His cheeks burned bright red as he tried to hide behind the brown paper bag sputtering through a stammered response that he partially muttered under his breath. "You talk about me to your grandmother," you teased. "All the time. Oh, how is your back doing," she asked gently. "Better! A lot better. I was fortunate enough to have some stubborn friends that forced me to care for it properly," you shared.

You followed them inside, taking off your shoes by the door, and froze before rushing to a picture as he set the bag on the counter. "Is this you," you demanded. Kuroo made a confused sound as you smiled wide at the photo, "Oh my god! Is that little Kenma with little you!? You were so precious! What happened?" 

"Oh you haven't seen the half of it," his grandmother said scurrying to a bookshelf to grab a photo album. "Don't bring out the baby photos," Kuroo groaned. "Oh, absolutely bring out the baby photos," you exclaimed before joining his grandmother's side. So much black mail.

"Before he turned into a little gremlin he was just the cutest kid," she gushed. "I'm just going to go off myself," Kuroo grumbled. "Do not. My chem grade depends on you," You called over. "Glad to know you only need me for my brain," he remarked sarcastically. "Be nice to your friend," his grandmother teased. You smiled back smugly and he just shook his head smiling, "I've created a monster introducing the two of you."

~~~~~  
~Kuroo's POV~

He leaned against the door frame after putting the groceries away. (Y/n) and his grandmother continued to speak animatedly with each other. His grandmother turned the page and they both reacted. "Oh that's my favorite photo of him," Sobo shared. "Oh my god! That is just the purest thing I have ever seen. There's no snarky smirk at all," (Y/n) said smiling down at the photo before looking up to meet his gaze. 

"Snarky smirk, huh? That's entirely your father and Jiji," His grandmother teased. He smiled rolling his eyes at how the two have banded together already. "Hey, respect your grandmother," (Y/n) teased. "Yeah! Respect me. I like this one. Other than Kenma, most of your friends don't really tease you enough," his grandmother shared. "Oh trust me, Yaku is on his case just as much as I am. He just waits for closed doors," (Y/n) shared. 

His grandmother gasped excited. "Oh no," Kuroo muttered. "She's a gossip! She's one of my favorites now," his grandmother shared beaming at him with a knowing smirk. "Well I'll leave you ladies to plot destroying my life or world domination," Kuroo started. "Probably both," (Y/n) teased. "Of course," he replied sarcastically, "I'm going to go check on Ji really fast and when I come back we can start working on chem." "Sounds like a plan," (Y/n) agreed. 

~~~~~

He poked his head into the garage to see his grandfather packing up his fishing supplies. "There you are," Kuroo said walking in. His grandfather looked up with a gentle smile and raised an eyebrow to question about (Y/n). "Sobo's holding her hostage," he shrugged off and started to help packing the fishing gear. "Baby photos," his grandfather asked knowingly. "Yeah," he strained before laughing. 

The serene silence was broken. "Your father said to tell you he was sorry he couldn't get today off again, but he'll definitely be joining us fishing Saturday," the older man shared. "Oh, no. It's fine. I'm alright. It's been almost ten years. He doesn't have to worry so much. I know work's been tough lately," Kuroo reassured. 

"I can manage this. You should head back before you grandmother starts planning your wedding with that poor girl you brought over," his grandfather warned. "It's not even like we're dating or anything. She's just a girl from school," Kuroo insisted. "That you made the mistake of telling your grandmother about," his grandfather teased playfully. "She told you didn't she," Kuroo pouted. 

His grandfather roared in laughter with the same hearty, hyena laugh Kuroo shared.

"You sure you don't need any help," Kuroo questioned. "I'm alright. Go," his grandfather encouraged. Kuroo pulled him into a hug before trekking back through the house. He walked into the living room and the two ladies looked up at him before exchanging a look and nearly toppling over in laughter. "I'm not going to ask," Kuroo declared trying to fight off the smile threatening to give away how glad he was they got along.

~~~~~

"You don't have to walk me home you know," (Y/n) insisted as she started packing. "It's fine, really. It's on the way toward something I need to do anyways," Kuroo shrugged off. "Why didn't you tell me you had something to do," she worried. "I have all afternoon to do it. Don't worry about it," he reassured. "Too late," she insisted. "It's fine," he insisted. 

"You're being cryptic," she declared as they both headed for the door. "You're being stubborn," he countered. "Because you do the thing where you pretend you're okay so you don't "bother" anyone," she declared pulling up air quotes. "It's really fine. Just personal," he insisted. She nodded quietly. "Okay, then I will refrain from prying. But if it's not okay at any point," she started. "I know. I know," he insisted. 

~Your POV~

"Sobo-chan! Jiji! I'm going to head out," Kuroo called. His grandmother poked her head out. "Don't forget the jar," she called. You stood quietly observing. You didn't have any real idea of what was going on. He was acting a little cagey and still spacing out so maybe it had to do with his mom somehow? But you weren't sure how the pieces fit. 

"I thought dad took it," Kuroo shared. "He said he wouldn't have time to. He's also working on some other thing for it apparently," she shared trying to keep the same discretion he was. "Oh, okay. Yeah, where is it," he asked. "The study," she answered as more of a question. "I'll be right back," he said turning to you. "Take your time. I don't have any real curfew," you reassured. 

He disappeared further down the hall with his grandmother. She was nice. A lot of his mannerisms when he was being sincere seemed to mimic her. Especially their knack for making anyone feel included and comfortable. 

He came back with a bag over his shoulder and grumbled teasingly as his grandmother smushed his face in her hands before placing a kiss on his forehead. "Love you," he called back before swiftly taking you out of the house. 

You just shook your head smiling. "What," he asked. "Nothing," you smiled looking at the path ahead. "That wasn't nothing," he insisted walking beside you. You glanced sideways at his expectant face before focusing back on the sidewalk ahead. "I'm glad I was wrong about you," you admitted. 

"Wrong about me," he asked amused. "During our first conversation, based on your snide and snarky banter I had made the assumption that you were a shit-head player. But you're really just a shit-head, sassy, grandma's boy," you said before looking at him, "And a massive dork." 

"What would you have done if I was a shit-head player," he inquired amused. "I know what I would not do," you answered. "Do enlighten me," he teased. "I certainly would not be friends with you or ask you to tutor me. As for what I would do? Hmmm. I 'dunno depends on how vindictive I was feeling," you shared. "I'm glad you were wrong as well," he shared. 

~~~~~

Kuroo had spaced out a good five to ten minutes ago and still seemed to be in a pensive daze. "Tetsurou," you questioned placing a hand on his arm hesitantly. He looked over startled as if just realizing where he was. "I'm going to be stubborn," you warned. "I'm okay," he said avoiding looking at you. "See you keep saying that and then you go and check out of your body for a good five minutes," you insisted. 

He opened his mouth to protest but you cut in. "We're friends right," you asked. "Of course," he said quickly. "Do you trust me," you asked. "What does-," he started and you just restated the question, "Do you trust me? Yes or no?" "Yes. I wouldn't have told you about the thunderstorms thing or left you alone with my grandmother if I didn't," he insisted. 

"Then let me in," you pleaded. He just looked at you a bit shocked. "You're my friend. I give a shit about you. You look like your drowning in your own head and you won't even let me try to help you. When I'm hurting you make me take care of myself. Let me do the same," you asked. He looked up at the sky trying to figure something out. He glanced back at you before quickly looking away. "Please," you insisted.

He sighed in defeat stuffing his hands in his pockets, still refusing to look in your direction. "It's my mom's birthday today," he shared quietly. You stepped closer and rested a hand on his arm as you walked beside him. "You're planning to go visit her," you asked knowingly. He nodded quietly. 

"If you're comfortable answering, what was she like," you questioned. "A bit like Azuna. But goofier," he shared lighting up a bit. 

He started rambling about how she would insist on reading bed time stories but read things wrong to the point he'd start laughing and point out that it didn't sound right and she'd only make the story more absurd. Or about how she was so forgetful and anxious that she once made it to his doctor's office but had forgotten to take him with her so he was left watching the Rugrats and hadn't moved by the time she got back.

You smiled at how wide his smile had grown. It was clear he didn't get many opportunities to gush about her. Your heart twisted in your chest. His beaming smile lit up everything in the surrounding area. Oh boy. This wasn't just a little crush anymore was it? 

~~~~~

"And she and my dad had this ongoing rivalry in Tekken and she taught me how to play so I would spam the same moves that she knew pissed off my dad," he continued. You came to a halt as he kept walking on autopilot. He paused turning to see you were no longer at his side. You nodded to the apartment building. 

"Oh. I didn't even realize," he started and trailed off. 

You just smiled, because fuck, he was adorable. "I'm so-," he started and you cut him off, "Finish that sentence with an apology and I'm going to punch you." "You're not annoyed that I rambled for a good twenty minutes or so and didn't let you get a word in," he questioned. "Why would I be? How often do you get to gush about your mom like that," you asked. "Almost never," he admitted. "Then I'm glad you got to ramble about her for the last twenty minutes," you shrugged. 

He pulled you into a hug and you laughed sharing, "Sir Reginald is going to be pissed now. He's going to smell you on me and be mad I saw you without him." Tetsurou laughed hugging you tighter. 

Your heart fluttered violently in your chest. Fuck. FUCK! This is like a CRUSH crush isn't it? Oh no. Oh god damn it! "Thank you. I'll see you in class tomorrow," he said letting go. "See you tomorrow, Tetsurou," you said before turning to walk inside. 

~~~~~  
~Kuroo~

He stood a bit shocked. She had called him by his given name without him being in trouble. His heart was about to beat out of his chest. He turned back on the path toward the cemetery and walked into a flower shop to pick up a bouquet of sunflowers. He felt like he was floating. 

He'd only ever recounted those stories to someone outside of his family once before. 

~~~~~

He made it to the cemetery and a figure approached. "You have the happy, dopey zoned out thing. What happened," Kenma asked putting his phone away. "I just rambled about mom for twenty minutes," Kuroo shared. "With (Y/n)?" Kenma's head perked up intrigued. Kuroo didn't say anything and Kenma just returned a judgmental look.

"What are you doing judging me for? I thought you had dinner with your folks," he asked. "You seriously thought I'd pick dinner with my parents over you on your mom's birthday," Kenma deadpanned annoyed. He pulled out a bouquet from his bag. "You didn't have to," Kuroo started. "Shut up," Kenma grumbled stuffing them into his friend's chest. 

Kuroo laughed walking through the entrance with Kenma. "You do give a shit about me," Kuroo teased. "Fuck off Rooster Head," Kenma complained. "And your phone is in you pocket!? I have your undivided attention," Kuroo asked feigning shock. 

"Keep up the smart ass bullshit and I'm leaving," Kenma grumbled   
"Your threats don't scare me kitten."  
"I actually hate you."  
"As opposed to theoretically hating me?"  
"Shut up and talk about your study date. How'd Sobo like her?"  
"It wasn't date."  
"You never bring anyone to meet Sobo unless you're serious about them sticking around."

Kuroo kicked a pebble along the path. "I do not," he defended avoiding looking at Kenma. "I will call your grandmother right now and tell her this bullshit leaving your mouth," Kenma threatened. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Okay," Kuroo exclaimed laughing as he desperately tried to stop Kenma despite having his hands full of the flowers they had brought. 

~~~~~  
~Your POV~

You walked into the gym and made your way to Nekomata. "Soooo? Finally got the verdict," he asked. You nodded. "(Y/l/n)-SENPAI," Lev, Inuoka, and Yamamoto exclaimed barreling over. "OI! Warm ups first! Finish them," Tetsurou intervened. "But don't you wanna hear if she's managing or not," Yamamoto demanded. "We already know what she decided," Yaku insisted, "If you idiots don't finish your warm ups you're doing lap dives and you won't find out her decision until after the weekend." 

You smiled as the idiots seemed to die inside with the rest of the team who had been better at hiding how invested they were. 

You turned to Nekomata and watched as he made a melodramatic show of pulling the paper open. You caught him glance at the three boys who had just been scolded. "Ahhh," he said as he read it. "OH COME ON! WHAT DOES IT SAY," they demanded. You kept your back to them as you tried to hold back your laughter. "Come on, just five more receives each," Tetsurou called out. "I thought it was ten," Lev's voice asked. "It can be twenty." "No! No! Captain! Ten's fine," Inuoka exclaimed. 

You heard a few thumps as Nekomata read the paper and did his best to maintain a poker face. "Okay," Yaku said. You could practically feel the ground rumbling beneath you. Kenma walked in and looked over alarmed as you shifted your weight to be more stable. "DO NOT," Tetsurou snapped. "HER BACK," Yaku shouted at the same time. You braced and the three idiots slid past colliding and crashing to the ground. 

You heard a tired sigh from Kai as he walked over to peel them off of the ground. "So! What's the verdict," Yamamoto demanded. Nekomata pulled you around the boys and rested a hand on your shoulder. "Boys. Be gentle. And give a warm welcome to Nekoma's new manager," he shared. 

They started screaming and Fukunaga just laughed beside Kai at the display before them. "Back to practice or I'll quit," you threatened. "OSU," they all shouted running back. "Welcome," Shibiyama said walking over to practice with Yaku. "Why the hell did you brace to catch them," Kai asked. "Well, you see, I too am an idiot," you pointed out. "The most truthful thing to ever leave your mouth," Tetsurou called back. 

"Keep talking back and I will call your grandmother," you threatened. "You don't even have her number," Tetsurou challenged. You quirked and eyebrow and pulled up your phone. "Wanna bet," you asked. Tetsurou's face paled, "She gave you her number didn't she?" 

A loud cackle you had never heard before, startled you and all other inhabitants of the gym. You looked over to see Kenma in a full on laughing fit as he ended up snorting. Kuroo, Yaku, Yamamoto, Kai and Fukunaga burst into their own fits of laughter as soon as Kenma snorted and You glanced at the first years who seemed terrified that Kenma could even laugh to begin with.

~~~~~  
~Kuroo~

Kuroo groaned as he was awoken to the wind being knocked out of him as something crushed him by pressing down on his back. "You had a girl over," his dad's voice inquired. "We had to study. Kenma and Yaku were supposed to come but they were being lame," he explained himself through shallow strained breaths. Some how he was used to this. The pillow he had smashed his face into was ripped up from beneath his head.

"How's volleyball going," he asked. "Good. We're really coming along. Playing Karasuno a while back seems to have the guys fired up. Yamamoto and Inuoka will not stop talking about how excited they are to play them at camp this year," he shared. He felt his dad roll off of him and he managed to push himself up to sit. 

"Good! That's good. When I used to play Nekomata and Ukai were still pretty young and the rivalry was pretty fresh. It would get intense," his dad shared, "And your mom-" "Mom managed for Karasuno," Kuroo finished with his dad. He had heard the story a million times. He loved it every time.

"Are you two coming fishing or what," Jiji asked from the door way. "Hai," he and his dad answered equally in fear for their life if they pissed off his grandfather.

~~~~~

Kuroo cast his line and sat in silence between his father and grandfather. They hardly ever got to spend time together like this. "Did sobo actually give (Y/n) her number or was the little shit bluffing," Kuroo questioned. "They've been sending memes and gossiping about your team," Jiji shared. His father started laughing uncontrollably. "That was a dangerous move that I'll certainly regret in the future," Kuroo declared. 

"So this must be someone you're pretty serious about," his dad pointed out. Kuroo focused his eyes on the other end of the rod. "She's just.... different," he shrugged, "She's a total pain in the ass. Stubborn as hell. She pinched a nerve in her back and proceeded to insist on finishing the school day. Yaku and I didn't even realize how bad it was at first because she took the whole thing like a fucking trooper."

Neither of the two older men added anything when Kuroo took a pause. They wanted all the details and unfortunately for him they knew he'd prefer to fill the silence by talking.

"Some guy was aggressively hitting on Azuna and she nearly broke his arm. At the same time she's a total nerd she practiced a formula so many times that she could just know the exact timing in a second," he shared, "and she gets the whole thing with mom. The other day she let me just let me ramble about mom for a good twenty minutes. She calls me out on my shit all of the time, too. She's really good at helping with wrangling the guys on the team. She started managing. She's crass and snarky, a bit angry at the world on first glance, but her cat is great. I'm stealing her cat."

"I thought you hated cats," Jiji thought aloud. "Yeah you almost started a riot when your sobo suggested getting a cat after Pochi died," his dad pointed. "Okay yeah, that was different. Pochi could never be replaced by a cat he was the best fucking dog. BUT! Sir Reginald McFartFace is different," Tetsurou insisted.

Jiji started laughing hysterically. "I'm sorry, repeat that," his father asked trying desperately not to laugh after Tetsurou's matter of fact delivery. "She named her cat," Tetsurou shared starting to break at the memory of the cat farting in it's own face and scaring itself but composed himself, "She named it Sir Reginald," he said slowly, trying to stifle his laughter, "McFartFace." "WHY," his dad demanded.

His grandfather was starting to cry laughing. "It only gets better. The cat will fart in its own face and scare itself. I have watched it happen," his composure was deteriorating as he started chuckling through his words, "(Y/n) said he once gave himself pink eye from it." His phone went off and he pulled it out confused. A number he didn't have saved had sent him a text. 

"Who is it? Your girlfriend?"

"She's not m- OH MY GOD!"

"Who is it!?"

"Her DAD!"

~Your POV~

"So how did studying go," Azuna asked. "Yeah! You haven't told me either," your dad perked up. You were all eating take out in the living room. It was steadily becoming a Saturday tradition. "It was fine," you said, shrugging. "I heard Kenma and Yaku canceled to give you two some time alone," Azuna shared. "What? They're plotting things now," you asked with a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," your dad scolded. "Sorry," you muttered.

"Of course they are," Azuna shrugged off, "You two have such great chemistry." She was giggling real proud of that one. "Why is Azuna laughing," your father asked. "Because Tetsurou is actually tutoring me in chem," you shared. 

They both looked at you wide eyed. "What," you asked, "Is there something on my face? Is it a spider again? I swear to god if your trying to scare me agai-" "When did that happen," Azuna demanded cutting you off.

You looked at them even more confused. "Uh when did you start calling bedhead-kun, Tetsurou," your father teased. "It's his name," you exclaimed defensively, "I call Azuna and Kenma by their given names." "Yeah, but you always call Kuroo, Kuroo or one of the five million nicknames you have for him," Azuna pointed out. 

"I don't see what the big deal is," you huffed.

"Awww she's getting pouty," Azuna said to your father. "I guess that's enough embarrassing for now," he agreed. "SOOO! Studying how'd it go," Azuna asked. "It was fine. I passed the test," you shared. "Did you meet his grandmother? Kenma talks about her all the time," Azuna asked. You nodded and nonchalantly shared, "She gave me her number we send memes. She asks about you now she knows we're friends. She really likes you and thinks you and Kenma should date." 

"You exchanged numbers with his grandmother," your father asked. "She also sends me baby pics of him so that I can use them as blackmail when he acts up in practice," you added. "You have his baby pictures," your dad demanded. You pulled up the text thread and showed them. "Oh my fucking god," your father exclaimed laughing, "If I didn't know better I'd guess you two had been dating for years." 

You buried your head in your arms to hide the embarrassment on your face. "Shut up," you muttered. "What are you doing," Azuna asked. "Helping this poor boy. He needs someone on his side," your father said your head snapped up. 

He was holding up your phone beside his own. 

"What are you doing," you asked. "Self assured mutual destruction," your father declared. "DAD," you exclaimed betrayed. 

You managed to get your phone back and his but the damage was done. 

To: Bedhead-kun  
"My daughter was armed by your grandmother so it's only fair you have some ammunition before the power goes to her head"

There were three baby photos of you following. One dorky one and two adorable ones. You looked up at your dad pouting, "Traitor." A text came back. "Thank you sir! Much appreciated!" "Mother fucker is not that formal ever! Little shit," you started. Azuna pried the phone from your hands laughing. "A respectable young man," your father teased. "I don't appreciate being on this end of things," you said.


	7. Have You Done the Weed?

"Okay," Azuna started as she thought aloud, "We had to go with a glow in the dark theme because there wasn't enough time to do a big big event BUT! If this goes well we're going to host an end of summer dance like how the US does prom since we don't have enough funds for a proper trip if we want to do the scholarships." 

You nodded handing her the coffee you were holding while she organized her books in her arms.

"Sounds good to me," you shrugged. "Am I forgetting anything," she asked. "Did you say there was something with tickets," you asked. 

"Oh," Azuna perked up, "Yes! We need to discuss the prices of the single versus couples tickets and how much we want to knock off for the couple discount." "How would you prove you were a couple though," you questioned. "Oh, you don't have to prove anything you would just need to find someone else to go with and purchase tickets together," she explained. 

"Is that going to be explained in the school announcements," you questioned. She nodded and scrolled through the notes on her phone. "That should be everything," she thought aloud. "You're going to be just fine," you reassured. 

~~~~~

You walked from the gym after morning practice and glanced at your phone. "You seem distracted," Yaku commented. "Checking in on Azuna," you shared. "She's doing the morning announcements today right," Kenma asked. "About what," Tetsurou asked. "Student council finally make a decision on the fundraiser," Yaku questioned. 

"It's going to be fun. She said the meeting went well and she's shaking but kind of excited for the morning announcement. This fundraiser is kind of her baby and she's really excited for it," you shared. 

"What is it," Tetsurou asked. "You'll find out in a few minutes," you shrugged. "Booo," he replied trying to look over your shoulder. You moved the phone away so he couldn't see. "So needy," you teased. "Tell me about it," Kenma remarked. "I hate you both," Tetsurou complained. "Bullshit," you both said before exchanging a mischievous grin. 

~~~~~

You sat in homeroom and the announcements came on. Kids near the front were still talking. "Oi! Shut up," you said eagerly waiting for Azuna to appear. "Since when do you give a shit about morning announcements," one of them asked. "Since Azuna is going to be on them," you said as if it were obvious. 

"If you all shut up I'll drop sixty bucks towards your group "anti anxiety" funds," you said with a wink. "Deadass," one of them asked. "Deadass," you confirmed. "Bet," they agreed and quieted down. 

"Drug money," Yaku hissed scared. "Those words never left my mouth," you declared and motioned for him to quiet down and whispered back, "They're stoners it's not like they're doing meth or heroine." "(Y/n)," Yaku scolded. You shrugged waving him off. "Scandalous," Tetsurou said as Azuna popped up. "Speak again and I will hit you," you threatened. 

"Good morning Nekoma High! Class President Okita Azuna here, with some exciting news," she shared with a beaming smile. "Look at her go," you exclaimed proudly. "And they call me the team mom," Yaku grumbled. You flicked him and watched Azuna take breath as she seemed on the verge of exploding with excitement. 

Or anxiety. 

Or both.

"Due to the state of our funds and the late class election we won't be able to go on a proper class bonding trip. However! With some hard work, and a lot of math," Azuna declared with a giggle, "We managed to plan two events. This first will be hosted the night of the final day of exams with the second being the end of summer. Our first event will be a blacklight dance party! Tickets go on sale today! Five thousand yen per ticket or eight thousand yen per couple's ticket. Now, don't worry the couple's ticket just means you purchased two tickets at the same time, no proof of romance needed."

"Yooo what," one of the stoners asked intrigued. "Glad you listened," you asked. "Blacklight party," Yaku asked. "That's going to be cool," Tetsurou agreed. "The arts department has also gracefully volunteered to do face and body painting for the party. That being said it is still a school function and I have been asked to remind students to refrain from immodesty," Azuna added. "Boo," you said to yourself. You laughed as Yaku smacked your arm.

"Our second event will be an American style prom at the end of summer. We don't have the definite numbers for the tickets to attend yet, but there will be an email you can contact for any questions given you during home room next week. We will have several dates over the where you can purchase tickets and resources for those who need them in which to find affordable dresses, suits, and hair and make up stylists if needed," Azuna shared.

"Two dances," Yaku asked. "If one isn't your style there's the other and if you just like a good party you get to go to both," you shared. "Are you going to go to either," Yaku questioned. "Probably both. Any excuse to dress up is a good one," you shrugged and pulled out the cash forking it over, "As promised." 

"You're tight as fuck dude if you need anything let us know," their leader shared. "I'll keep that in mind," you nodded and turned back to the other two.

Yaku looked to be in a full panic. "You just funded drugs," Yaku whispered in panic. "Yaku, this may come as a shock to you, but I know," you whispered. "Have you done the weed," he whispered. "I think you need to partake in inhaling the devil's lettuce," you remarked, "It might do you some good to chill out." "I need to be present for that," Tetsurou said. You laughed at Yaku's mortified reaction, "You two give me agita."

Azuna walked in and you smiled wide. "You did great," you exclaimed. "I wasn't too cringe was I," she asked. "No you were adorable as always," you promised. "You were fine," Tetsurou agreed. "That's what two weeks until the blacklight party," you asked. Azuna nodded. 

"Define modest," you asked. "(Y/n)," she scolded. "What," you asked laughing, "I just want to know how much of a librarian will I be required to look like?" "Nothing provocative," she said blushing furiously. "My entire personality is provocative," you teased.

"Oh please, don't act like you're not a total nerd," Tetsurou countered. "A hot provocative nerd," you countered to point a warning finger at him. "A lame dorky nerd that still hasn't taken her lego death star out of the box after owning it for what did you say, seven years now," he asked. "I haven't had the time to build it," you defended. "Lame dorky nerd," he insisted. "At least I don't make chemistry jokes and know how to use a hair brush," you countered. "Here we go again," Yaku muttered. 

~~~~~

You walked with Azuna toward student council's classroom. There wouldn't be practice for a few hours. "Hey you wanna do the couples tickets if we don't get asked," Azuna asked. "You mean if you chicken out and I don't get asked," you questioned. "Maybe," she muttered. You laughed in response. 

"Hey! (Y/l/n)-san," someone called. You turned confused. Azuna stayed by your side. 

~Kuroo's POV~

"You going to ask her," Yaku asked. "I-I don't know dude. Maybe not to this one," he thought aloud rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to think. "Hey! (Y/l/n)-san," someone called down the hall. He turned, worried she might of heard. He saw the back of her head cocked to the side in curiosity. 

He adjusted his bag seeing the guy standing nervously before her. His grip tightened on the bag as the guy looked like he was about to confess. "Uh-erm... I know we haven't really talked much, but um... I really like you and I was wondering if you'd like to go to the black light party with me," he said.

Tetsurou curled his fingers tighter around the bag. He felt a tug from Yaku but his feet wouldn't move. They were paralyzed. "Ah, um," she started sweetly, "I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I can't accept. I'm sorry." He finally felt like he could breathe again. Yaku pulled again and Kuroo stumbled after him. 

"Don't torture yourself like that man," Yaku said as they kept walking. "What if I don't ask her and she goes with someone else," he found himself worrying. "Are you an actual idiot," Yaku asked. "Hey! No need to be an asshole just because I have more somatotropin than you," Kuroo argued. "I feel like you just made a comment about my height," Yaku said and kicked him. "Mother fucker," Kuroo complained. 

"If she does go with anyone else, it'll be Okita-chan," Yaku tried to reassure. Kuroo toyed with the strap of his bag. "What's with him," Kenma asked joining them. "We just witnessed a poor soul get shot down by (Y/l/n) and now he's spiralling over the possibility of her saying yes to another guy," Yaku shared. "You're an idiot," Kenma agreed. 

~~~~~

As the week had progressed Kuroo was twitching each time another guy approached (Y/n). "Unless you're going to ask her out quit freaking about it," Kenma hissed. "I know, I know," Kuroo grumbled. "Kenma," a voice called. They stopped on their path back from the corner store.

Azuna was jogging toward them from the gym entrance, most likely from dropping (Y/n) off. "Hi," Kenma phrased as more of a question. "Eh... um..," she started and fidgeted anxiously, "Etoooo," she struggled to continue. 

Kuroo nodded from slightly behind him and mouthed, "Go for it." She took a deep breath as if to hype herself up and asked as pointedly as she could, "Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Kuroo smiled proudly and looked to Kenma who was turning a deep shade of red as his eyes darted anywhere and everywhere else. "Me," he asked confused. "Um you don't have to. I know you don't like crowds but um... well, okay, honestly, I um, I kind of like you and um I was- well I was wondering if -if you would be- I don't know if maybe you would want to go like with me," she stammered anxiously. Kuroo watched his best friend's head snap up the most excited he had ever seen him. 

"Yes," Kenma said point blank. His two awkward children. "Really," Azuna asked lighting up. Kenma nodded. Kuroo knew he was was probably to shocked or nervous to properly form words. 

"They grow up so fast," Kuroo teased. "Fuck off," Kenma countered. "A-Um... I'll text you! I have to get going," Azuna exclaimed. Kenma nodded stiffly. They both stood staring at each other like deer in headlights before Azuna uttered and excited, "Okay" and darted off awkwardly. 

They're going to take a while to get comfortable with PDA aren't they? 

Kuroo just laughed once Azuna was out of earshot. "I'm going to go scream for a second," Kenma declared. "Try not to scare the first years. They still haven't recovered from you laughing," Kuroo teased.

~~~~~

Practice ended and they were headed to (Y/n)'s apartment to study for exams. Azuna and Kenma were quietly chatting away in their own little world. Kuroo looked down at his phone to see a chicken emoji from Kenma. He knew exactly what it was. Kenma was calling him out for being to scared to do anything to progress is relationship with (Y/n). It had been a full week and the only real advancement they had was referring to each other by their given names more. 

In comparison to the rapid progression of the month and a half before, this week had felt static. Watching other guys ask her out what felt like every five seconds, really it was probably once a day so about five guys total, certainly wasn't helping.

He looked over as her small hand grabbed onto his arm. "Tetsurou," she hissed excited. He followed her eyes to see Kenma and Azuna holding hands. "It's happening," she whispered proudly. 

Just do it. Fucking ask her.

You fucking idiot, ask her.

His voice was caught in his throat which had suddenly turned into the Sahara Desert. Why couldn't he just-? It wasn't like he had to tell her everything but just... ASK HER! Once more his voice did not obey him and his mouth remained glued shut.

"Hey, Tets," (Y/n) said letting go of his arm. "That's a new one for the list," he remarked. She rolled her eyes continuing, "Since our friends have ditched us for each other and I still need a cover to deter the more persistent guys crawling out of the wood works suddenly, would you mind being my chaperone?" 

He stared at her in shock for a bit. "Di-are- did you just ask me to the dance," he asked in disbelief. "If you're not comfortable with that I totally get it, no hard feelings," she started. "No- yeah. Yeah I'll go as your chaperone," Kuroo agreed trying to play it cool. "Thanks," she said. 

"You know if anyone's giving you too much trouble, I have no problem scaring someone straight. It has been brought to my attention that I can be intimidating," he offered. She snorted scrunching up her nose before shaking her head. "I'll stick with my own means of intimidation. I'm just trying to keep from getting suspended or expelled," she declared.

"Am I a joke to you," he asked. "Yep," she replied simply with a shit eating grin. "Don't make me revoke my agreement to be your chaperone," he threatened. "No taksies backsies," she declared. "You're a child," he countered. 

~~~~~

Kuroo stood outside the corner shop with Yaku. "You okay dude," he asked. "What the fuck just happened," Kuroo hissed. "Your unrequited love just asked you to the school dance," Yaku teased. "Shhh! Shut up! Not so loud," Kuroo stressed, panicking. Yaku just laughed. "Dude- she- I-... what the fuck," he asked. "You're actually an idiot," Yaku declared. 

"Hi," a voice said as the door opened. Kuroo let out a strangled yelp and (Y/n) burst out laughing. "You alright tiger," she asked. "Mhm," he forced out. "You're not allowed to die or I'll be forced to ask Kai or Yaku to be my alibi and chaperone," she said. "I wouldn't dream of it," he replied quickly. 

She tilted her head curiously. "What," he asked. "Nothing," she waved off.

~~~~~  
~Your POV~

Tetsurou had seemed kind of off since you asked him to the dance. He would have just said no if he didn't want to go right? So why did he seem so off? "You okay," he asked breaking you from your thoughts. 

You snapped your head up from your phone, taken off guard. "Hm? Oh, yeah! Yeah I'm fine. Trying to go through everything to make sure dad's set for summer," you shared going over the list of locations and what he has packed already.

"He's really letting you stay here on your own," Yaku asked. "Azuna is going to be over often enough to let him know I'm not dead or kidnapped," you shared skimming through the list again. 

"If you need anything at all over the summer don't be afraid to let us know," Kuroo offered. "I'll be fine dad's gonna Venmo me for groceries and I'm pretty much going to just carry on like normal," you shrugged off. "Yeah but even if you're just bored or if you need a spider killed we're only a call away," Yaku offered. "Thanks guys," you said. 

~~~~~

You walked into the classroom selling tickets the following morning with Kuroo, Yaku, Lev, Kenma and Azuna. "You're bringing Lev," you teased Yaku. "He said if could make ten sets before practice he would and I DID," Lev exclaimed excited. 

Kenma was twitching through his glare at Lev and only softened when Azuna lightly held onto his arm. "You finally beat that side quest," she asked softly, trying to distract him. It worked. You smiled proudly at their budding relationship. 

"Hey! (Y/l/n)-san, uh are you going with anyone," asked one of the more persistent boys. "Uh, yeah Bedhead-kun over here, why," you asked motioning to Tetsurou as he turned a bit confused. 

"I thought you said you weren't going with anyone," the guy asked. "Plans change," Tetsurou said in a tone that was daring the guy to challenge him. It was kind of hot. "Right," the guy strained and backed down. 

You turned back around and his hand rested on your shoulder. You received a smirk from Yaku which you shot a glare at. "Oh are you guys going as a couple," Lev asked. 

You didn't know how to answer. Technically no. You were nowhere near ready to confess or deal with those emotions. However, if you said no, mother fuckers would think they still have a chance. They still haven't realized that you have standards. 

"We're getting the couple's tickets," Kuroo said open endedly for anyone to interpret however they want. How did he always manage to come in clutch with, exactly the right thing to say? 

"Are you and Yaku getting individual tickets or the couple's tickets? They are cheaper," you pointed out. Yaku and Lev just looked panicked.

Azuna the peacemaker popped up asking, "(Y/n)! Did you get any further with the playlist?" "Oh! It's almost done," you said pulling out your phone and shifting your weight as the ache started up in your back for staying in one place for too long. "You're going to DJ," Lev asked excited. "Her spotify is. She volunteered to since it would save with expenses and her dad works for event that would play similar music," Azuna shared. 

"Is that english," Kuroo asked. "Oh no that's spanish. I have some Spanish, French, and Portuguese artists in there with Japanese and Korean artists. Oh and an American artist I forgot about these," you admitted, "Just working on the slow songs and then I'll like all of them and rearrange the playlist and then it's good to go." 

~~~~~

The following week consisted of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off as you made outfit inspiration boards for the student body to see what clothing were appropriate for the event and the supplies they might want to add. On top of that you had packed and repacked your dad's suitcase and set up a schedule for yourself for summer. Aside from volleyball practices and the breaks between exams you hardly saw any of your friends.

You were just glad for the break as you sat cross from your dad for your last dinner together before he leaves for the tour. "This is probably one of the best set lists I've ever seen," your dad said looking over the playlist. "Thanks dad," you said. 

"You know you'd make an amazing event planner," he pointed out. "You think so," you asked hesitantly. "Kid, what you're doing is incredible. Not many people can pull this off," he complimented. "AND you and Azuna are getting ready here tomorrow before the party," he asked. You nodded taking your phone back. 

"The boys are coming too," he questioned. "After we get ready, since we're closest to the school," you confirmed. "And Bedhead-kun is your date," he interrogated. "Dad! It's not like that. He's my chaperone," you argued flustered. "Be responsible. No funny business," he warned. "DAD! Oh my god," you exclaimed trying to hide your face and hold back a cough. 

"Listen kid, I may be old but I still remember what it was like to be your age," he said. "Please do not continue that story any further," you pleaded. He laughed at your clear discomfort. 

"Remember I want at least one photo check in a day. I also want pictures from this dance. You nodded stuffing some noodles into your mouth to keep yourself from saying anything that he could tangentially break off from and embarrass you with. 

~~~~~

You pulled out the baggy black tee with white stars and moons across it and white sun in the center. Black fishnets were layered under the white biker shorts that where mostly covered by the shirt dress. You used a belt to cinch the waist and still the hem of the shirt fell below the shorts. You put the white doc martins by the door and waiting for Azuna to come up. 

She had a black and white striped tee under her white overalls. She looked adorable. You laughed as she toed off black and white running sneakers. "What," she asked. "You're adorable," you said. "You're towing a fine line missy," she warned. "It extends past my fingertips and my shoulders are covered," you countered. 

"Let's doll you up," you said pulling the glow wig off it's holder. Black roots with green ends. "This is going to look amazing on you," you declared.

~~~~~

You had done the base make up for both you and Azuna and secured her wig. You were running the rest of the violet, pink, and mint uv reactive hair-chalk through your ends when Azuna got the door. You looked up from the kitchen sink where the rest of the purple was seeping into the suds. "Hey," you greeted.

Kenma had white sweatshirt and black pants. Minimal effort, as expected. Yaku had a white polo, with shorts and loafers. Lev dressed down a white button down with jeans, messy buttoning and sneakers. Both were absolutely stealing glances at the others. 

Tetsurou walked in immediately grabbing your attention. A white muscle tank, under a black and white flannel, and black distressed jeans with a sneakers.

There was no doubt your group would be the best looking ones there. "We look great," you said proudly. "WOAH! YOUR HAIR," Lev exclaimed. "I have yellow, green, and blue left for hair chalk," you offered. "Can I get blue," Lev asked. You nodded laughing and had him sit. 

You glanced over while you ran it through his hair to see Kenma examining the wig Azuna was wearing while both held sweet smiles. You glanced at Tetsurou and Yaku who were already watching. "Can you pass the yellow," Azuna asked. "Tiger can you send it her way," you asked. 

~~~~~

You finished putting in the accent blue like highlights in Lev's hair only to see Azuna putting the yellow over Kenma's bleached ends while he sat patiently playing on his PSP. Azuna looked so excited and pleased with herself. This was going to be a fun night. 

"All set," you declared. "Yaku-senpai! How do I look," Lev asked with a beaming smile. "You look cool," Yaku said softly. You gave him a knowing smirk to which he just looked at the distracted Tetsurou, petting your cat. 

"Dad wants photos," you announced. Kenma complained. You all just clumped around him and Azuna and let Lev take the photo since he had the longest arms.

~~~~~

You had yet to talk directly with Tetsurou but when you tried you found you voice getting caught in your throat, as you hands would clam up, and your heart would start beating really fast. 

"Your hair looks really cool."

You looked up at the strangled voice. Tetsurou seemed just as tense. "Huh? Oh, thanks," you replied. 

An awkward and tense silence fell as you both stared at the other's eyes like deer in headlights. 

"Hey, Tets," you questioned. "Yeah," he questioned hesitantly. "Are we technically fifth and sixth wheeling right now," you asked, nearing the school. "It would seem so," he agreed. 

~~~~~

You had all been separated at different painting stations. The girl doing your face had chosen a pink and mint similar to the ones in you hair. You felt dots and lines being placed to accentuate your eyes and cheek bones. She had you close your eyes as she went to speckle paint across the bridge of your nose like freckles.

The second you did shut your eyes you found your mind slipping to Tetsurou. The way the tank would expose some of his abs and well defined chest and how flustered you found yourself each time. It was so strange to conceptualize the adorable child in his baby photos grew up to be this. 

You opened your eyes and he was already standing there, waiting for you. A beaming smile spread across his face as you locked eyes. He's such a dork. Lines of different colors accentuated the natural contours of the upper half of his face. 

"Dude, Kenma got them to give him the fierce deity makeup, but glow in the dark," Kuroo shared. "Shut the fuck up," you asked excited, as you hopped off of the stool.


	8. Slow Dances and Family Emergencies

"I love that Azuna and Kenma chose to nerd out," you declared. "I fucking knew it, that is supposed to look like Kida from Atlantis, right," Kuroo asked. "Yes. It's her favorite movie. She has made me watch it eight times now," you shared. "Adorable," he said. You hummed nodding.

The song changed. Kuroo looked at you shocked, "Is this-?" "Not, open parentheses, dead, close parentheses, by YDIZZY," you asked. "Must you recite the punctuation," he asked. "Every time," you said with a smirk. You watched as some of the crowd filtered off as others got excited and rushed out.

"I was not expecting," he started and stopped himself with a smile before shaking his head. "What," you asked. "Sometimes I forget you're cool," he said. "You fucking, better never forget it Tets. I'll kick your ass in style," you declared. "I hate you," he declared. "You wish you could," you laughed off.

You straightened up as the current song came close to the end.

You ran to Azuna as soon as she walked over with Kenma. "Oh no," she said recognizing your face. "You promised," you insisted. "I knooow," she complained. Gasolina started up and she sighed in defeat. You heard the guys laughing as you pulled her out to the dance floor.

"Okay why are you lying to pull me to the side," she asked. You glanced over to see Kuroo and Kenma talking to Lev and Yaku now. "Think I like Kuroo," you choked out. "Congratulations, you are the last person to know," she teased, giggling. "No, Azuna, like-... Like closer to the stronger like word that I'm scared to say out loud. Not all the way there yet, but we're starting to plummet that way at dangerous speeds," you tried to explain. "O- Oh," she realized.

"I don't know what to do," you worried. "You could just... talk to him," she offered. "I can't- I keep choking up. I can only hold a conversation if I force myself to look at him as little as possible. I don- I don't know what's happening. This doesn- I don- Like I see him and my brain just goes all mushy and empty and I just stop functioning. This has never happened before. I have flirted with like models and celebrities and been fine, but this dorky little grandma's boy makes my brain glitch and go all stupid," you panicked.

"You have it bad," she teased. "I have too much baggage," you stressed. "You say that as if he doesn't," she remarked. Your voice caught in your throat as you voiced your worries, but she made valid points.

"What if he doesn't like me the same way? He's been acting all off since I asked him to the dance. What if- What if I'm reading everything wrong and he's just being kind and not meaning anything by anything, because he's just a great guy, and then I talk to him and make everything weird and messy," you asked. "Or, what if he's acting weird, because he likes you too," she countered.

"That's worse! What do I do with that? What if I destroy everything I'm just starting to build," you worried.

"The world isn't going to end because you like a boy," she reassured. "It might," you stressed. She giggled, breaking some of your stress. "You don't have to do anything about it right away. You're going to be here the whole rest of the year, right," she reasoned. "Yeah," you confirmed. "You have time to sort through this," she reassured.

"What if I miss my shot," you thought aloud. "You won't. Trust me he's way too focused on volleyball and making sure you and Kenma don't die," Azuna pointed out, "Stop worrying and have fun tonight." You nodded quietly.

~~~~~

You had been teaching Yaku and Lev how to dance before you finally stopped to grab a drink. You hadn't seen much of Tetsurou which let you forget those worries until this exact moment where the human furnace stood beside you.

"Hey," you greeted. "Hi," he said with a warm smile, "Sorry for being a shitty chaperone. Kai found me."

He did the little head shake he does when he lies.

"You don't have to lie about wherever you disappeared off to. It's okay. You don't owe me an explanation," you shrugged off. "I wasn't-," he started and cut himself off when his voice cracked. "You have a really obvious tell," you shared.

You stared at your cup hesitantly as you finished your water.

"Do you want to dance," he asked. "What," you asked laughing a bit. "I believe I owe you a dance for being such a shitty escort," he declared. You looked back over to see he was being genuine. "Tets, really, it's fine. You're not a shitty escort," you reassured. "I totally am, I disappeared on you for like the entire night," he pointed out. "I did kind of disappear into the dance floor with Azuna, first," you pointed out finding your eyes glued to his.

"Would you stop being so cool and understanding about everything and just let me make this up to you with a dance," he asked, teasingly. "If I must," you replied matching his tone.

You threw out the plastic cup and joined him. "It's going to switch to a slow song," you pointed out. "That's fine by me. I'm not really good at dancing," he admitted sheepishly. You laughed shaking your head. He was so fucking cute.

The song started to fade in as you found a spot in the crowded dance floor. It was a really good turn out.

"English," he asked recognizing the song. "It's from that train wreck of a Netflix show," you said wrapping your arms around his neck.

Your nerves were going haywire and you prayed he hadn't seen how shaky your hands were. At least the music was loud enough to cover the pounding you felt in your chest.

"Ah," he responded, resting his hands on your waist.

He still seems off. Maybe you really did freak him out. God, please don't let him see your panic.

"You seem tense," he called out. "Hm," you asked startled by his intuitive remark. "I'm fine," you insisted. "You're full of shit, kid. I can feel you tracing patterns on the back of my neck," he pointed out as you looked at his shoulder to avoid his eyes. "Maybe I'm tracing out an insult," you muttered in response. You readjusted your arms to avoid giving yourself away again. "What's wrong," he asked gently, "Why are you nervous?"

You can't tell him. But you can't say nothing either.

"You," you said vaguely. His step faltered. You stole a quick glance at his incredibly confused, and worried, expression and looked back at his shoulder starting panic at your horrible word choice. "I'm making you nervous? How am I," he stumbled over his words.

You tried to brace yourself for whatever was going to come next. You really fucked yourself this time. You tried to hold back as much of your grimace as possible. How to dig yourself out of this hole, was beyond your grasp.

"You've just... I don't know," you started trying to pull up the right words, "You just seem... off. Ever since I asked you to this, you've seemed off, and I'm really sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You mean a lot to me and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize any of this with any of you, because I've never had friends like this before. I've never had someone in my life like you before. You know? There aren't a lot of people who relate to the dead mom trauma thing. I'm really nervous and scared I'm going to fuck this up again, because I really don't want to this time. So, I'm sorry."

The words had started to fall out in a disorganized stream of consciousness that you couldn't stop once you started. "(Y/n), look at me," he said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. You reluctantly looked up at his face.

"I'm going to tell you a secret," he said. "I like being in on secrets," you choked out in a small voice.

"You're not going to scare us away that easy," he said, "I don't introduce my grandmother to just anyone and everyone. Since we moved here... what almost a decade ago? I can count on both hands exactly who I've introduced her to. You're stuck with us idiots now. As for me being off, it's nothing you did. There's just been a lot going on-"

He was interrupted by his phone going off. He grimaced, "I'm so sorry I have to take this." "Go ahead. I'll be here. Well, not right here, you know what I mean," you stammered letting him go. He answered his phone walking off as he covered one ear apologizing. The song was over anyways.

You walked in the opposite direction trying to process that whole conversation.

"You okay (Y/l/n)-senpai," Lev asked materializing from thin air. You nearly jumped out of your skin before nodding and choking out a strained hum to confirm. "Are you two dating or not," Lev asked confused. "No, we're not dating," you answered. You looked up seeing someone waving. You spotted Azuna trying to flag you down. You locked eyes with her and she waved you over.

You excused yourself and made your way across.

"What was that," Kenma asked. "If I'm being honest, I don't know," you admitted. "Okay, well what happened," Azuna asked.

"He asked me to dance because he felt bad for not being around most of the night. And then I started worrying about him being off this past week, and then he called me out on that and then I apologized incase I made him uncomfortable by asking him to this dance and how I'm kind of nervous I'll fuck these friendships up and he was like "it's fine you can't get rid of us now" and that he doesn't introduce a lot of his friends to his grandmother and then he got a call and now we're here and my head is spinning," you relayed.

"Okay, yeah," Azuna strained, "A lot to unpack there." "Did he say who called," Kenma asked suddenly urgent. "Uh... no. Just that he had to take it and then he walked off," you shared a bit worried. "I'll be back," Kenma said patting Azuna's shoulder. "Is everything okay," you asked. "Yes," Kenma said a bit quickly before darting off.

"Okay, they're being weird again," Azuna said, once Kenma was far away enough. "Again," you asked. She nodded glancing back in the general direction they had gone off. "He got a call earlier and they disappeared for a while. Kenma seemed a bit on edge when he came back. I didn't see Kuroo until I saw you both dancing together," Azuna shared.

~Kuroo~

"We're fine. I told your father not to worry you," his grandmother reassured. "Fi- you were in-," he bit his tongue trying not to snap. He's been a ball of nerves since that initial call from his dad. "You and Ji are my grandparents and I love you both, I deserve the right to know when you get into potentially life threatening situations! If it was me in that car crash instead, you'd be furious if I didn't tell or call you," he pointed out.

"That's entirely different," she started. "How," he demanded, feeling a light tug on his shirt. He looked over and relaxed seeing it was just Kenma. "It's our job to take care of you not the other way around. We're fine Tetsurou," she insisted. "I'm not a little kid anymore. It's our job to take care of each other. One school dance is not more important than your well being," he argued. "It wasn't a crazy crash. There's no need to worry you and pull you from that if everyone is fine," she insisted.

"Dad said the car is fucking totaled and it's a miracle the two of you were even alive," he insisted trying to keep his composure. He looked up at the ceiling to hold back tears. "What does your father know," she tried to shrug off. "Considering he's mechanic I'd hope he knows a fucking thing or two," he argued and pinched bridge of his nose shaking his head to try and distract himself and keep from breaking down.

"Language," she said sternly. "I'm coming home," he declared. "No! You're going to stay out like you planned. We're fine here," she insisted. "How can you expect me to just stay out when I know you were in a car accident and brought to the hospital," he demanded. "It's a minor concussion and some whiplash. Do not cancel you plans because of this," she said firmly.

He bit his lip and shook his head in disbelief. She wasn't protecting him by not telling him. What does she not get about that?

"Tetsurou, did you hear me," she asked. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I heard you," he strained, forcing his voice to be steady. "Put Ji on," he asked. "Promise me you're not going to cancel your plans first," she insisted. "Are you fucking kidding me," he demanded. He felt Kenma's hand on his back as his grandmother didn't respond.

"Fucking, fine. I'll stay out and worry the shit out of my friends because I'm still going to worry about you both. But sure, I'll stay out, now please put Ji on the phone," he agreed frustrated. He heard a tired sigh and some background noise.

"Hey, kid," his grandfather greeted. "Are you actually okay," he asked feeling his throat start to grow thick and scratchy. He stuffed his free hand in his pocket as he waited for the answer. "We're alright. We've had our fair share of wrecks over the years. We were fortunate enough to just, mostly be shaken. Your father took tomorrow off to make sure my pain in the ass wife takes care of herself," he shared calmly.

Kuroo nodded mostly to himself.

~~~~~

He was still sitting against the lockers spaced out as he tried to process everything.

"Do you want me to stall Azuna and (Y/n)? They're starting to get worried," Kenma said. He nodded, "Sorry." "You know I hate crowds. Any excuse to avoid that room is good one. Especially if it's to make sure Sobo and Jiji are okay," Kenma reassured.

Kuroo took a deep breath and nodded but he still couldn't help but feel guilty for putting a damper on everyone's night.

He looked up hearing quick footsteps before someone started panting to catch their breath. He looked up to see (Y/n) doubled over, braced on her knees. The face paint's colors were muted by the fluorescent lighting of the school hall.

"Uhh, Azuna's about to go into worried warpath mode and I can't distract her anymore. Um Yaku's trying to keep her in a conversation with him and Lev. I have no clue what's going on uh, but um if you still need time alone for whatever it is... I either need Kenma or advice from Kenma to keep her from barreling over," she shared as the panting started to regulate.

"I was just about to head over," Kenma said. Kuroo just found his shocked eyes glued on (Y/n). He couldn't move, he couldn't speak. He was struggling to process everything with the hazy state that last call left him in. But somehow she found them. Not only did she find them, but she read the room with almost no information on the situation.

Her voice snapped him back to reality, "Do you need anything?"

"I'm going to go deal with Azuna. I'm leaving him in your hands," Kenma said to (Y/n). She looked at him just as confused as Kuroo felt. Kenma of course, did not elaborate any further and just disappeared into the gym. His eyes drifted back to (Y/n) hesitantly. "Tets," she asked cautiously.

His heart skipped a beat at the nickname again and he just turned to look at his hands as he picked at the frayed black denim around his knee. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just need a second to breath and I'll join you guys back inside," he insisted.

There was no response so he assumed she had actually listened as he started to space out and think over the conversation again. He kept replaying the harsh words he had said to his grandmother.

Someone sat down beside him and he looked over, startled by Kenma's speed based on the silence of the motion. Instead it was (Y/n) at his side.

"You look confused," she declared. He just nodded, too emotionally drained to speak at the moment. "I'm not going to leave you out here on your own. If you were me and I was you, would you leave," she reasoned. "No," he admitted looking back at his hands. It was a little jarring hearing his own argument used against him.

They sat together in silence for what felt like an eternity.

"You're not going to ask what's wrong," he asked. She shook her head no, simply stating, "I know you'll talk about whatever's going on when you're ready. I also know you know I'll bug the shit out of you if I think you're bottling too much."

He looked over to see a sympathetic smile resting on her face. The expression was almost exactly like his grandmother's. Something snapped and the wall he had been pulling up crumbled. The tears started to sting at his eyes but there was no time to stop them from spilling over. He covered his mouth trying to hide as much of his expression as possible as he looked back at the opposite hallway.

"Sorry," he choked out. "Tets, I've literally sobbed in your arms before. You don't have to apologize for crying," she declared. He felt her arms wrap around him as a choked laugh broke through the tears.

"What are you doing," he asked. "I'm hugging you. You're my friend and you're sad and some human space heater once told me this is what friends do," she shared, quoting his words back at him. "You're a dick," he said. "I'm y- actually never mind you're a dude so you- joke doesn't hit the same," she rambled.

He laughed laying his head on her shoulder to try and hide his face. "You're a pro at this huh," he asked sarcastically. "You know what. I change my mind, sob all alone," she teased moving to get up.

He felt a little panic not wanting her to go. He really needed someone to lean on more than he would like to admit. He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her in place and pleaded, "Please don't."

"No, Tetsurou, I won't. I was kidding. I promise I won't," she reassured sounding heart broken. "Thank you," he mumbled. He closed his eyes to alleviate some of the burning. Fingers started to stroke through his hair.

~~~~~

"If he hasn't already, he will fall asleep like that," Kenma declared flatly. He lifted his arm to flip Kenma off before sitting up a bit to wipe his face.

He looked down at the colors smeared across his hand before realizing his mistake. "Fuck," he muttered. "Yeah you should probably wash your face," (Y/n) noted. He looked at her shirt and grimaced. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's an old shirt and washable paint. I promise it's not the end of the world," she shrugged off.

~Your POV~

"I can stay with doofus," Kenma offered.

You glanced back at Tetsurou, hesitant to leave his side after hearing him sound so small and scared. "Yeah, go have fun," he agreed pushing himself to his feet, "I'm going to wash my face and join you guys after."

You stood glancing between the two of them uncertain of what to do. Kenma placed a hand on your shoulder and gave a squeeze. You could tell by the look in his eyes it was meant as a promise to make sure Tetsurou was okay. Kenma never gave you a reason not to trust him, and he was Tetsurou's best friend.

You took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay," you agreed, "Please, call or text me if you need anything." "Aye aye captain," Tetsurou called back playfully.

~~~~~

You sat at your table, doing your best to avoid Azuna, as to not undo any hard work Kenma had done to keep her at bay. "Hey," said a kind and familiar voice. You looked up from your phone to see Yaku. "Hi," you greeted, trying to pull up the everything is fine mask. "You okay," he asked. "Yeah! Yeah I'm fine," you said feeling your confidence in your lie fade. His face said he knew you were full of shit.

"I'm just worried about Tets," you admitted. "His face paint is on your shirt. He respects you way too much to ever try anything, so I can guess how it got there," Yaku shared.

You took a shaky breath not answering. "Please don't," echoed in your head. It was so easy to forget he was still just seventeen until this November. You still had no idea what it was that put him in that state. You also wanted kick yourself for not putting together how off it was that he just vanished earlier. You just wanted to hold him in your arms and make sure everything was okay, but that wasn't your place.

Yaku's hand rested on yours pulling your attention up. "It's going to be okay," he reassured. He wore a gentle comforting smile. It was so kind and genuine that you believed him. "Thank you," you said taking a deep breath. "If you stay on some dumb shit, I'm going to hit you," he followed up. You laughed at this swing from comforting to normal, aggressive affection, Yaku normally embodied.

~Kuroo~

"Are you sure, you're up for coming back in," Kenma asked, concerned. "I'm okay. I'm sure," he insisted. Kenma eyed him suspiciously, but didn't protest. He found himself scanning the crowd and he spotted (Y/n) first out of their friends. She seemed worried as she talked to Yaku and he felt guilty. His face paint on her shirt was glowing, glaring back at him.

But when she looked up, somehow detecting his gaze, her whole face lit up. He couldn't help but smile back.

"Incoming 1:30," Kenma muttered. Kuroo looked over startled as Azuna was barreling over. He looked on wide eyed. "What happened to you? Where did you disappear to? Why is (Y/n) wearing your face paint on her shirt? What's with you being so secretive? Did something happened? Do I need to hurt someone," Azuna demanded.

Kuroo stood paralyzed by her seemingly endless flurry of questions. All the while Kenma was trying to call her name to stop her, but she was still going.

"Go talk with Yaku and (Y/n)," Kenma whispered. Kuroo looked at him a bit confused. He was more worried about Azuna's wrath at the moment but it all came to a halt as Kenma said a final, "AZUNA!" Kuroo watched wide eyed as Kenma kissed her despite the eyes he had just drawn to himself.

Kuroo took that as his signal to go and half jogged over to the table where Yaku was laughing. What the fuck was this night? "Hey, how are you," (Y/n) asked as he sat down beside her. "I'm fine... processing all of... that," he admitted with a chuckle. "I can't believe he just fucking kissed her, in front of everyone," (Y/n) thought aloud. "I owe him like a lifetime supply of apple pies," Kuroo noted.

~~~~~

They were all hanging around (Y/n)'s apartment now as she was trying to teach Kuroo, Azuna, and Kenma how to dance. Lev and Yaku had left only an hour ago. "Aren't I supposed to be leading anyways," Kuroo asked laughing. "Yeah but you're learning so wait," (Y/n) insisted.

"You're a fucking tyrant, quinine-chan," he teased. "Okay, listen, kitty-cat, I don't need your fucking bullshit," she retaliated. "See that's where I think you're incorrect," Kuroo countered.

"Baka," (Y/n) countered very maturely.  
"You're a child."  
"I know you are but what am I?"

Azuna groaned tired and annoyed. (Y/n) laughed, "I told you already, just go take my room it's fine." "But it's your house, and then you have to sleep in the living room and your back-," Azuna started worrying. "Will be completely fine and if it's not I can just go to my dad's room," (Y/n) reassured.

Kuroo just found himself quietly watching her expression as he hadn't let go of her yet.

~~~~~

Somehow he found himself in her arms on the couch. He couldn't remember how they wound up in that position but he was glad for it when thunder rolled in. His nerves were too frayed to bother trying to hide back how much it was rocking his shit. He buried his head into the crook of her neck and his arms wrapped around her tighter as he listened to her breathing and her heart beat for comfort.

"I'm right here," she reassured stroking his hair. The intro to Terrace House started up in the background. "I'm sorry about tonight," he mumbled. "I'm not," she admitted, "Tets, you're worth caring about." "I-," he started instinctually and cut himself off before he could finish that sentence. Now was not the time. "What," she asked.

"Um- I-," he stammered before figuring out a way to get away from his almost accidental confession, "My grandparents... they got into a car wreck. That's what the call was." "What," she asked in shock.

He nodded, "They're okay, by some miracle based on what dad said about the car, and Sobo insisted I didn't need to worry or get pulled from everything happening tonight. It scared the shit out of me, and uh I definitely said some things I regret, but she tried, not filling me in at all. Yo- um... you made this expression earlier that she makes and that's why I kinda... broke down. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Tetsurou, please stop apologizing for being human," she said sweetly.


	9. A Taste of Envy

~Your POV~

You woke up to someone moving and your back burned. You recognized the pale grey walls of your dad's room as your eyes fluttered. "Tets," you mumbled confused and tired. "Sorry, I was trying not to wake you," Tetsurou whispered softly. "What time is it," you mumbled. "Eight-ish. I'm headed out okay. Azuna is still over. I'm taking Kenma, we're going to lock the door behind us," he shared. You nodded lazily muttering, "Text or call me if you need anything."

~~~~~

"Hey! Lazy bones! You still gotta pack for the summer camp," Azuna's voice shouted. "You leave in four hours!" You groaned in complaint and sat up, pouting at the ache in your back from sleeping on the couch with Tetsurou's weight on you.

Your eyes widened immediately as you recalled basically cuddling on the couch and falling asleep in each other's arms. "What," Azuna asked. "Nothing," you said quickly. "That was not a nothing face," Azuna countered. "It was too a nothing face! I have to pack," you said flustered as you threw the blanket back.

He had to have carried and tucked you in while you were half asleep.

"Something happened with the boy didn't it," Azuna asked scurrying right behind you on your way to your room. "Nothing happened with the boy other than comforting him during the dance," you insisted. "First of all what? Give me details. Second you're full of shit I left to get a glass of water and you two were all cuddled up on the couch," she declared.

"It's not like that. He had a rough night, his nerves were frayed and there was a thunderstorm," you said. "What about the thunderstorm," she asked. You clamped a hand over your mouth. "Forget I said anything," you yelped walking faster into your room. "What's up with thunderstorms," she demanded. "I can't tell you," you panicked.

"Ahh what, you two have secrets now," Azuna teased. "I mean not technically," you pointed out. You pulled out a duffle bag and started fishing through your drawers. "You do," she exclaimed gleefully, her tone shifted to worried as she asked, "How's your back?" She had certainly been coming out of her shell more. "It's not too bad," you reassured, "Actually, on the topic of the boys... you and Kenma-?"

Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she smiled a pure and sweet smile. "What about it," she asked cheekily. "What do you mean what about it? He kissed you! I want details," You insisted.

~~~~~

Azuna gave you one final hug at the school. "I'll be fine," you laughed off. "You three! Keep her alive or I'll be very upset with you," Azuna started grilling Tetsurou, Kenma and Yaku.

You just laughed in response, "I promise not to use the stairs too much," you replied and yelped as Yaku punched your shoulder causing another fit of laughter. "Not funny," Yaku scolded. "It was a little funny," Tetsurou agreed with a shit eating grin. "Listen here rooster head," Azuna started. You glance back at Nekomata pleading for help. "Let's start packing in," he called out.

You gave Azuna another quick hug and waved scurrying off. "(Y/l/n)-senpai," Yamamoto exclaimed rushing over. "Hey," you greeted. "Yamamoto! I swear," Inuoka shouted running this way. "No! I got here first," Yamamoto shouted back. "I took you chores for clean up," Inuoka argued. You looked up as Tetsurou stepped up behind them. His arms crossed with a knowing frown and disappointment in his scowl.

You chuckled recognizing the expression. That was the "grow up and stop harassing her face". Inuoka and Yamamoto were still fighting not realizing Tets was right behind them. "Boys," you cut in and they snapped their heads up to look at you. You nodded behind them. They both turned and the color drained from their faces.

"Thank you," you mouthed to Tets. He nodded quietly in response.

~~~~~

You laughed from your seat beside the bags. The boys had complained that not only were you not sitting with any of them but you were sitting on your own. Nekomata and Naoi were turning a blind eye as Fukunaga let you connect to his radio to make the bus ride more entertaining.

Fukunaga and Lev had surprised everyone as they started rapping in english. Tetsurou had been hyena laughing for almost the entire bus ride and Kenma was focused on his psp with his headphones in. He looked irritated, but not too terribly irritated.

He locked eyes with you and just shook his head as Yaku started yelling at Lev. This was going to be a fun time.

~~~~~

You followed Nekomata to the managers' room. Four others were already there. The smallest one was blonde she jumped up and stared at you terrified. She reminded you immediately of Azuna. The one beside her was a bit taller. She had dark hair that fell into her face and a mole by her mouth. She was beautiful and reserved.

Your eyes fluttered over to the other two. A cute girl with black hair and freckles perked up, "You must be the new managed for Nekoma!" "Beat me to the punch Miyanoshita," Nekomata laughed. "I'm so sorry," she apologized. Nekomata laughed waving away her concern, "Make her feel welcome, but she's a tough cookie and pretty mischievous herself, so be wary of her antics. Don't let the quiet and shy demeanor fool you, she's just as bad as our boys."

You laughed a bit thrown by his accurate call, "Hey! Way to blow my cover. I'm (Y/f/n). It's very nice to meet you all!" "Hello, I'm Shimizu Kiyoko and this is Yachi Hitoka. We're from Karasuno. It's nice to meet you aw well," the raven haired girl introduced.

"We're Miyanoshita Eri and Otaki Mako from Ubugawa and Shinzen! Eri and Mako is fine though. It's nice to meet you we've been hearing a lot about you from the guys," Otaki said. "About me," you asked. "You know those boys never shut up about you," Nekomata shrugged, "Speaking of I'm going to go make sure they're not killing each other. And no boys in this room after ten pm."

Nekomata gave a knowing expression. "What's with the face," you asked. "What face," he questioned cheekily and left.

You scowled after him for a good second. "I'm sorry but I seem to have missed you when we last played Nekoma," Kiyoko said. "Oh! I wasn't a manager yet. The captain and our libero got me into the club only a month or so ago," you shared. "Are you a third-year as well," Kiyoko asked. You nodded finding an open spot to set down your stuff.

"What made you choose now to be a manager," Eri asked curiously. "I just moved to the area about... two months ago, I think. Tetsurou was the one assigned to show me around since we're in the same class. All they do is talk about volleyball so I got kinda sucked into the world," you explained.

"Tetsurou," Mako asked. "O-uh.. Kuroo," you shared. "You're on a first name basis with the captain? Are you two dating," Eri asked with a growing curiosity. "Huh!? No! What? He's a friend," You panicked. "That was very convincing," Mako teased.

"Is it complicated," Kiyoko asked knowing. You chuckled dryly, "That's one way of putting it." "I can't judge I like one of the boys on our team too," Kiyoko reassured. "What!? Who," Yachi asked shocked. "I'm a little embarrassed to say," Kiyoko admitted. "I'm sure it can't be worse than the nerdy rooster head," you reassured.

There were footsteps pounding over from down the hall before a knock sounded at the door. Yachi screeched in terror. You looked back to the door after glancing at the small blonde. A boy stood in the doorway. He had silver hair and a mole beside his left eye. Something about him seemed familiar but you were sure you had never seen him before.

"Oh! It's just Suga-san," Yachi said relieved. He did a double take and looked at you confused. "New Nekoma manager. Did you need something," Kiyoko asked. "Oh! Yes! Nice to meet you, uh Shimizu, Noya ripped his elbow pad did we pack any spares," Suga asked. "That was the extra one," Kiyoko shared. "Shit," Suga muttered under his breath.

"I have a sewing kit," you offered, "I could patch up real quick." "Really," Suga asked lighting up. The same familiar comfort lingered. It wasn't like when Tets comforted you. It was different. Parental almost. Like the feeling when your dad got home. You wanted to investigate. "Yeah," you shrugged. "You're a life saver! I'll take you to him," Suga offered. You nodded and pulled put the box of sewing supplies.

~Kuroo~

"You what," Yaku asked as he finished updating him. Kuroo nodded trying to rack his brain. "I almost fucking said it. What am I going to do? It keeps almost slipping," he panicked. "Sounds to me like a matter of who slips first," Yaku shrugged. "What," Kuroo asked shocked. "Come on dude it's so obvious she likes you," Yaku said. "As if," Kuroo shrugged off.

There was no way.

"You know for someone so smart, you're really fucking dumb," Yaku said kicking him. "The fuck man," Kuroo demanded going to strike back. He froze in place doing a double take as he saw (Y/n) walking in with Karasuno's setter, Sugawara. She seemed to be in the middle of a conversation and was laughing and talking animatedly.

"She cozied up fast," he muttered mostly to himself. "Don't go into big dummy mode," Yaku scolded. "I'm no- I just- I'm glad she's fitting in, it's ju-," he couldn't finish his sentences.

Saying them out loud only solidifies his feelings for her. He was naive to think she would like him back so soon. They only knew each other for two months.

"You're jealous it took her so long to start opening up to you," Yaku called out. The asshole was right. "I don't want fo talk about it," Kuroo shut down. "Consider maybe that if it wasn't for you and Azuna doing the heavy lifting for those walls, that wouldn't even be possible," Yaku offered. "Whatever, I'm going to start warm ups," Kuroo shrugged off.

~Your POV~

"Hey! Don't swarm," Sugawara scolded. "Are you a first year," one of the Karasuno boys asked. "Third-year. Just moved here a few months ago," you shared. "Where were you living before," asked the the sorter boy with a blonde tuft.

"This is Tanaka and Nishinoya," Suga shared. "Your problem children," you teased. "Hell yeah," proudly boasted Tanaka. You chuckled looking back at Noya, "Better question is where haven't I lived. You're the one that ripped the elbow pad right? You're the libero Yaku talks about?" "Yaku talks about me," Noya asked surprised.

"He's been real fired up knowing we're going to be facing you guys again. They all have," you shared. "We're sworn rivals," Tanaka declared. "We're not planning to go easy on you either," Suga said with the same wild look behind his eyes.

His personality was a lot like how your dad described your mom. In a sense he was almost exactly how you pictured her, just as a dude instead. He felt familiar. He was easy to talk to and get along with.

You gave a teasing look as he seemed to space out watching another Karasuno player shaking hands aggressively with Tetsurou who was returning the venomous glare. "I take it that's Daichi," you asked taking the elbow pad from Noya. "How'd ya guess," Tanaka asked. "Tetsurou has the same weird competitive thing going on," you explained. "Tetsurou," Suga teased. "Oh fuck off Mr. Longing-gaze," you jeered back. Suga just laughed at your response.

"Oi! Tets! Your face'll freeze like that! Knock it off," you scolded. "I don't have to listen to traitors," he countered. "I'm just sewing an elbow pad," you defended. "Aiding the enemy," he corrected. "You're a child," you called back. "I know you are but what am I," he called back and turned back to Daichi who said something you couldn't hear.

"Hmm Tets huh," Suga teased. "I'll sew your mouth shut Sugawara," you threatened pointing the needle at him. He held his hands up in surrender and cautiously lowered your hand.

"If you ever do want to jump ship you're welcome at Karasuno any time," Noya said. "I'm pretty loyal to my cats. I'm only helping so we can destroy you at your strongest," you declared. "Woah woah! Listen here, these are some pretty bold claims for someone who's only been with Nekoma a few months," Suga cut in playfully. "A few months is all I need to know they've got what it takes," you shrugged.

"You might change your mind after today hot mama," Noya said and put an arm around you. You put the nail between your teeth and jabbed his side. Tanaka started laughing hysterically as Noya yelped. "Not happening," you declared and went back to sewing.

~~~~~

You were quick to help Yachi and Kiyoko with getting the waters out. Eri and Mako were on food prep for lunch. Despite being in the same room as them, you had barely seen the team at all.

You had been pushing yourself to help. Ignoring the pain from constantly bending and carrying the waters and towels back and forth. It was still early in the day when your back started to flare up pretty bad.

You braced on the water spout as white hot flames shot across your lower back. "(Y/l/n)-san," Yachi squeaked out as you cursed under your breath. Another pair of footsteps joined. "Sorry, I'm fine give me a second," you tried to reassure. "Hey, can you run this in, her back is acting up, she'll be alright," Tetsurou's voice said. "I can do it," you insisted. "(Y/n)," he warned.

You bowed your head embarrassed. Yachi's footsteps retreated inside.

"Stop pushing yourself so much," he reprimanded. "I just want to pull my own weight," you argued. "You're pulling more than your own weight," he said helping you upright. "It doesn't feel like it," you strained. "Think of it this way, if you work yourself into the ground and neglect taking care of yourself now, you'll only be more of a pain in the ass to take care of later," he reasoned.

He walked you back inside and had you sit on the bench. You felt eyes on you and suddenly you found it incredibly easy to sympathize with Kenma's anxiety. But Tetsurou seemed to have blocked it all out.

"Hey, look at me," he said. Fucking nothing gets by him, does it? You snapped out of your timid glances around and locked eye with him once more. "I know you didn't pack it so I brought an extra," he said holding up lidocaine cream, "Go apply and take these before you come back. I don't want you straining your back fo at least a half hour."

You nodded taking both from his hands.

~~~~~

You lowered your shirt and braced on the sink, frustrated. "Um h-hello," chirped the tiny and timid voice of Yachi. "Oh, hello. I must holding you all up huh," you asked trying hide the guilt in your voice. "No! Not at all! This is apparently the most help they've had in years! I jus- I wanted to- I was wondering if you were okay," she asked.

"That's very sweet of you. I'm alright, or rather... I will be," you sighed. "Your scary captain seemed really concerned about you," Yachi shared.

She followed you out and brought you to a bench as you explained, "He's not so scary once you get to know him. He was with me when I hurt my back, so I'm pretty sure some of that worry is guilt. He didn't notice because I tried to hide how bad it was. He's pretty stubborn about making sure I don't hurt myself further."

"That's really sweet," Yachi said beaming. "Yeah, he's a good guy," you smiled back.

~Kuroo~

It had been a while. He was still on edge with everything that had happened the previous night. He wanted to see for his own eyes and they were between sets anyways. He glanced and Nekomata who nodded for him to go ahead with a knowing expression, "If you're late coming back from the bathroom I'm subbing Kai," Nekomata threatened. "Hai," Kuroo called back.

He walked out into the hall. He stopped hearing voices. Not so scary once you get to know who? He paused behind the wall listening. Oh it was him or Yaku. "I'm guessing you wouldn't be on a first name basis if he wasn't," Yachi said, drawing his attention back.

His cheeks started to burn as he realized she had been talking about him.

There was a soft chuckle before a sad sigh came from (Y/n), "I just wish he was as understanding with himself and he is with the rest of us."   
"What do you mean by that?"  
"Like... just now. He saw what was wrong and made sure I took care of myself first. But, if it were himself in the same situation I know he would have tried to hide it more, and he'd probably succeed. He's always so hard on himself."  
"It's really hard to see the people you care about hurting at their own hands. That's probably the same reason he's so on your case."

Yachi had hit the nail right on the head. His heart still clenched at (Y/n)'s worry though. Was he really that hard on himself?

"I think he just feels responsible for me in sense."

(Y/n) you idiot. It was for so much more than that. If only he had the nerve to shout that until it got through to her.

"I dunnooo," Yachi teased in a sing song voice, "It definitely looks to me like he might have a crush on you."

Was it that obvious? He didn't even know Yachi. A hand rested on his shoulder and he jumped spinning around to see Sugawara with a devious knowing smile. What the hell was he doing here. "Yachi," Suga mouthed, not outing his cover. Kuroo played dumb and Sugawara just rolled his eyes not buying it. Kuroo caved a pointed over.

Sugawara took him by the arm and switched into an act that they had been actively looking for the girls this whole time. "Oh, there you are," Suga said as they rounded the corner. Yachi yelped and started stammering. Was he really that intimidating. "We were looking to make sure you two didn't get lost or something. Do either of you need any help," Sugawara asked in an even tone. Nothing in his expression betrayed the lie. What type of sorcery?

His heart plummeted as he caught (Y/n) watching Karasuno's setter. "We're fine thanks for checking in," (Y/n) replied returning Sugawara's smile. Kuroo felt his jaw clench with how easily Suga drew her genuine smile. That had taken him a few days to pull out and one conversation later Sugawara has no issue getting to the real person behind her mask. If she had even pulled up the mask at all.

"Hey, you okay," (Y/n) asked catching him off guard. He looked up from the random point he'd been focusing on. His eyes widened as he realized she was talking to him. "Yeah," he said quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine." She tilted her head with an expression to call him out. "I should probably head back if you're alright. Nekomata threatened to sub Kai for the whole game," he strained. "Yeah! Yeah! Go! I'm okay! Don't risk your spot playing, for me. I'll be alright," she reassured with a warm smile. He forced one back and started back around the corner. He paused hearing Sugawara's muffled voice followed by her laughter and his heart sunk further. He was an idiot.

~~~~~

"Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you," Kenma hissed after another missed set. "Nothing. I'm fine," Kuroo insisted, resetting to his position. Shinzen was currently taking the lead. He was off. His blocks were weak at best. He's missed every other set and the ones he did manage to hit, he hit too hard and knocked most of them out of bounds.

But he couldn't keep his head in the game. His mind kept racing but it was focused on how (Y/n) was getting along with Sugawara. Cruel what ifs of him confessing to her only to be rejected for the silver haired setter, or her asking him for help with trying to confess to Suga, looped through his head.

He knew it was irrational. He knew they only just met and he had already gotten so close to her, but it didn't stop the intrusive thoughts. It didn't stop the constant reminder that even he only knew her for about two months or so. What if their closeness gets surpassed by her closeness with Sugawara? What if-

"KUROO," Kenma snapped. He looked up and received a spike to his face. "Son of a bitch," he muttered as the sting radiated from his nose. Tears began to prickle in the corners of his eyes. Yaku walked him off and he felt Kenma's furious glare follow.

"I got him," (Y/n) declared. He was directed to sit on the bench and he obliged. "Tets please don't bullshit me, what's going on with you," he said asked in a quiet voice as she started rolling up tissues to try and taper off the blood flowing from his nose now.

"There's nothing wrong," he insisted. "You just took a spike to the face. You've been out of it this entire game," she called out. "I'm fine, it won't happen again," he pressed. He couldn't tell her why. If he told her why then she would know, and he would get an answer to the what ifs. He'd rather torture himself wondering than ever know he was right.

"Just talk to me," she pleaded. "N- I said I'm fine. Would you just drop it," he snapped a bit without raising his voice. Her expression faltered. He regretted his harsh tone immediately. She wasn't as unbothered as she wanted people to believe and he knew that. He knew how terrified she was of losing them. Here he was pushing her away. "Tilt your head down," she directed emotionlessly. He opened his mouth to apologize, something, but no sound came out. He just bowed his head to comply.

~~~~~

Needless to say his mind was spiraling even worse. (Y/n) had gone off to help Shimizu and Yachi. "You're being an idiot," Kenma deadpanned, joining him after they managed to take the set back. "I'm not in the mood," Kuroo muttered. 

There was just silence but kenma's presence remained. Kuroo lifted his eyes and was met with a familiar glare. Kuroo flitted his eyes away knowing Kenma was right. It still didn't change the way his mind was functioning. He glanced over to see Karasuno in a bit of a funk themselves.

He spotted (Y/n) Talking with Shimizu and Sugawara, her back was turned to him. He could still tell from the slumped shoulders the frustrated and upset expression she was trying to hide. They way the forced smile was probably twitching. The sad down cast eyes heavy with anger. And she was with Karasuno to get comfort. He was pushing her away. He didn't mean to. Why does this always happen?

He lurched forward getting a whacked in the back of the head. "Agh! What the fuck," he asked looking back to Kenma and a now scowling Yaku. "Stop sabotaging yourself. Worrying so much about is only going to push you towards sabotaging yourself worse. There's nothing there, you fucking idiot," Kenma stated point blank.

"I know that," Kuroo insisted. "Great, but you still need to hear it, because you're not acting like it. Yaku stop looking at me," Kenma said. "You sure you don't want to be captain next year," Yaku asked. "Hell no," Kenma declared.

"Stop doubting it. It's so obvious that she likes you. Stop being an ass," Yaku added. Kuroo glanced back over to steal a glance but she was already looking over. She broke eye contact first and his gaze lingered before looking back at Yaku and Kenma. "What if I'm not right for her and she's only allegedly into me because I'm all she knows," he stressed keeping his voice down.

"I'm going to kill you," Kenma deadpanned.  
"Not if I kill him first," Yaku added.


	10. Summer Camp Gets Weird

~Your POV~

"You seem like reasonable human beings," you said as Suga joined the side lines. He quirked an eyebrow, quietly questioning you. "How the shit, does one get through to a big, dumb, stubborn, idiot that tries to bottle all their emotions," you asked. "If you find out, please tell me," Suga replied. You groaned in reply.

"I take it this is in regards to the your captain," Kiyoko asked. "Yeah he seemed really off in that last set," Suga agreed. "He's been dealing with some shit, but usually he'll talk to me. I don't know what I did to make him push me away like that just now.

"If he's going through some shit it's probably not personal then," Suga suggested. "Who's going through some shit," asked an older looking boy with blonde hair. "Kino! Language," Sugawara reprimanded. "But you just-," Kino started and cut himself off laughing. "I would never. I am a model citizen," Sugawara replied hardly keeping a straight face. "You're full of shit," Kino said walking back to the other boy with a buzz cut. A new water was in his hands.

You glanced back over at Tetsurou. Something was definitely up. Kenma was talking way more than normal, he had even yelled at him during the game. It wasn't like it was something tiny. There was something noticeably wrong. Why was he suddenly refusing to talk to you about it? There was a myriad of possibilities. In the last twenty-four hours alone too much had happened for you to pin the source.

"I just wish I knew what was up," You admitted. As if reading your mind his amber eyes met yours. A million thoughts behind his gaze, that he wouldn't let you see. You broke free from the trance and looked back to the two Karasuno members you were speaking with.

"I know I don't know him too well, but if you ask me he seems kind of jealous," Suga noted. Kiyoko nodded to agree. "Jealous," you asked perplexed. No there was no way. "When did he start acting odd," Kiyoko asked. "In all honesty he's kind of been off for the last twenty-four hours," you shrugged. "Well on our end he seemed pretty normal until Daichi said something to him while you were helping sew the pad," Suga pointed out, "And he keeps looking over here now that I've joined the conversation."

Suga's eyes hadn't even shifted. How would he know?

"I highly doubt that," you pointed out. "With everything you've said about him, even if not in the romantic way, maybe he feels like he's being replaced," Suga shrugged. "No one could ever replace him," you defended. "Does he know that," Kiyoko asked. "I'd hope so by now," you thought aloud trying to think it over.

"Boys are dumb, they need reminders sometimes," Kiyoko said. "Hey- well... accurate," Suga tried to defend. "Just try to be around, until he does open up. I mean don't wait on him hand and foot but try not to wall yourself off from him either," Suga offered.

You hummed to yourself as you took in their advice. "I'll try it out. Thanks! See you guys around," you said taking the waters. "Any time," they both replied.

~Kuroo~

He sat at the lunch table and flopped his head down. He had managed to get back into the groove of volleyball, but he was still making mistakes. "Is everything alright captain," Yamamoto asked. "Yeah," he replied into his arms. "You're looking more like Bokuto right now," Kai laughed. Kuroo lazily lifted his head to shoot a glare.

"Is it about whatever is going on between you and (Y/l/n)-senpai," Lev asked. "No," Kuroo said quickly and defensively. "So there is something going on between you and (Y/l/n/)-senpai," Inuoka jumped up. "NO! There is nothing going on," Kuroo defended. Fukunaga chuckled as Kenma and Yaku exchanged an unamused glance. "Riiiiiggghht," Kai teased.

"Fuck off," Kuroo grumbled setting his head back in his arms. "(Y/l/n)-senpai," Shibiyama greeted as a cheerful warning.

Kuroo lifted his head to see her smiling at the rest of the team. "Hey guys! I feel like I haven't seen you all day," she greeted sitting beside Kuroo. She wasn't saying anything about earlier. She didn't seem as pissed at him either.

"Is Karasuno really going to steal you," Teshiro asked. The bushy browed first-year asked. Breaking his silence was becoming less rare. "Not gonna lie, Noya tried, but there's no way I could up and leave my little found-family," she reassured. Kuroo couldn't decide if he felt better or worse.

"How are you doing? The bleeding stop? Eri and Mako needed a hand in the kitchen," she said turning to meet his gaze. The autopilot seemed to shake and he nodded looking back to his food, "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," he looked back up with a forced reassuring smile, "I've taken worse." A small frown crossed her face for a moment and he wondered if he maybe said the wrong thing.

~~~~~

They were headed to the Saitama training camp and things were still weird. (Y/n) was diving head first into managerial duties and bouncing between the different teams clicking with each group but also popping up around their own team at random. Always checking in on Kenma, Yaku, and himself. She seemed off but she was trying to play off that everything was fine.

He had been texting Bo about it since Kenma seemed at his wit's end. He glanced over at Kenma was mostly listening to the call he was on with Azuna. Yaku was sleeping on Lev and Inuoka and Yamamoto kept pestering (Y/n) who didn't seem to mind.

~~~~~

"HEY! HEY! HEEEEYY," Bo shouted as he turned a corner. "BO," he exclaimed. Dumbass came charging and pulled Kuroo into a bone crushing hug which prompted Kuroo to burst into a fit of laughter. "Bokuto-san," Akaashi reprimanded, exhausted already.

~Your POV~

You turned the corner and went wide eyed as an enthusiastic greeting was shouted. Tetsurou perked up immediately. He lit up like a Christmas tree exclaiming, "BO!" A tall and broad-shouldered, muscular boy with the hair and eyes of a horned owl came charging down the corridor practically ripping Kuroo off from the ground. "Every time," Kenma muttered annoyed.

You glanced at him blinking a few times to adjust to this information casually dropped. "Bokuto-san," a melodic monotoned voice reprimanded.

You looked up to the source seeing a boy too beautiful to exist. Messy black hair and steeled blue eyes that were far more grey than they were blue, adorned his face. Soft, but well defined, features complimented both. If classical music was a person, it would be him.

"Agaaaaaaashiii," Bo complained setting Kuroo down, "I have to greet him like this every time we promised, Akaashi." "Maybe you shouldn't have kept me up until three in the morning asking about owl migratory patterns then," Akaashi deadpanned. "But I really needed to know! Are you mad at me? You sound mad," Bokuto pouted. Akaashi sighed, "I'm not mad, just tired."

You chuckled at the exchange and the two new faces turned to you. Both held curious expressions. Bokuto tilted his head to the side with child-like wonder as Akaashi eyed you more suspiciously, as if he was uncertain about something about your character.

"This is our new manager," Kenma said without looking up from his game. "Hi! Uh- (Y/f/n). Nice to meet you both," you greeted. "THIS IS (Y/N)," Bokuto exclaimed. Tetsurou paled immediately. "My reputation proceeds me, I see," you replied with a smug smirk.

"Please excuse our captain's rude behavior. He means well," Akaashi apologized. "Oh, no worries! I deal with these wild cats nonstop," you reassured. "So we've been told," Akaashi said, amused. "Oh god. Hope he hasn't shared all the dark and shady secrets," you teased. "Only about the murder and arson," Akaashi teased.

You laughed as Bokuto went wide eyed. "The what," he asked.

"Damn Tetsurou I thought you said you wouldn't snitch," you teased. "Tetsurou? Kuroo-san, you didn't tell us you and (Y/l/n)-san were on a first name basis," Akaashi said feigning innocence.

"Yeah he-," Bokuto started and Tetsurou clamped a hand on his friend's mouth. "Hahaaa! I think that's enough from you owl bud. Um Yukie and Kaori seemed really excited to meet you! I'm surprised they're not with you two," Tetsurou strained.

You eyed him suspiciously he was definitely trying to shut the conversation down. He pressed the heel of his palm to his mouth. He was holding something back or lying. Why won't he just talk about it? You opened your mouth to call him out and shut it hearing footsteps race down.

"Hey! Stop disappearing would you," a girl who looked similar to Mako just with freckles, scolded. "Speak of the devil," Akaashi half muttered. "Talking shit," egged on the one with magenta hair. "Always," Tetsurou fired back.

A flaming dagger scorched through your heart. Ow. What the fuck is this feeling? "Woah! This the new manager," Yukie asked turning to you after sticking her tongue out at Tetsurou.

You felt really naive for not even thinking all of the history and people he's branched out to meet over the years. They may have been your whole world and all you knew here... but they were their own people who had the chances to form roots somewhere. Of course there would people they were close to outside of your group.

You had pulled the walls up a little higher to keep from killing the fun and excitement they all seemed to share for this reuniting. "How'd you manage to trick her into being your friend. She's way too hot to associate with you nerds," Yukie declared. "Shirofuku-san," Akaashi started. "I know! I know," she replied and took your arm.

"Dude, easy. She moved in like a few months ago, try not to scare her off," Tetsurou tried to cover his concern in the joke. "Ye of no faith," Yukie said. "Rightfully so," Kaori teased. "Asshole," Yukie laughed taking you with her as they branched off. Akaashi Bokuto had dragged Tetsurou into a conversation as your eyes lingered on each other, not quite wanting to separate.

"You okay," Kaori asked. "Yeah," you strained snapping your attention to them. Your head started spinning trying to keep with their questions. You wanted to get along with them and like them, but holy shit you needed a breather.

"Oh! Hey," came the melodic voice of a potential savior, Sugawara, "I was just looking for you. Kiyoko needs a hand and asked me to grab you. You ladies mind if I steal her for a few minutes?" Yukie pouted, "Yeah go ahead, but we're tussling if try to horde her all to yourselves."

You walked over to Sugawara who just nodded amused. He started rattling off about how the weather seemed different here, almost swamp-like. You honestly hadn't really noticed, being too preoccupied with trying to weed what was wrong out of Tetsurou's mouth. "I think a storm might even roll in tonight," he added off handedly.

A storm? Your head snapped uo. "A storm," you asked. "Yeah it should't interrupt with any camp activities though. It'll just be later in the night," he reassured. He opened a door to a rooftop and Kiyoko was already sitting up there.

"You can't keep stealing the Nekoma manager, they'll get the wrong idea," Kiyoko scolded. "She looked so overwhelmed. You know how intense Shirofuku and Suzumeda can be. They mean well, sweet girls, just... they're as lively as their team, they're just better at hiding it," Sugawara rattled off.

"Normally I would probably be in the same boat as them, I just... I don't know. I'm not in the right head space I guess," you admitted sitting besides Kiyoko. "Still having boy troubles," Suga asked knowingly.

You sighed in defeat. In a strange sense, you trusted him. You barely knew him, yet you trusted him to gossip with, like you would with your dad after coming home from school.

"I just- I feel like I'm doing something wrong, you know? Before summer camp started, and I mean literally the night before, he Kenma and Kenma's girlfriend, who's my best friend, slept over. He shared some really personal shit we fell asleep in each other's arms while I was comforting him and- and now he'll hardly even look at me. He was... starting to be less weird and then he started talking with Bokuto and Akaashi and he couldn't even look at me. Not to mention he's definitely trying to hide something," you voiced aloud frustrated.

Suga released a dry chuckle. "I take it things are going just as poorly with Daichi," you asked. "He's so fucking dense," Suga groaned plopping down and flopping onto his back, "I am irrevocably in love with an idiot." You giggled noting, "I think my mom said something similar about my dad back in the day." "At least you don't have feelings for a loud idiot," Kiyoko sighed.

~Kuroo~

"How is it possible that I keep fucking up? What is wrong with me," he groaned. Kenma had gone ahead with Yaku after chewing him out. He was left with Bo and Akaashi to vent. Maybe a fresh set of eyes might help.

"Wow I don't think I've ever seen you this into a person Kuroo-san," Akaashi teased. "Enough from you smart ass," Kuroo pouted. "Akaashi is right though! I don't think I've seen you care about a person more than volleyball other than Kenma," Bokuto pointed out. Kuroo shrugged not knowing how to reply.

"Okay, what's actually bothering you," Akaashi asked calling him out. "It's fine," Kuroo insisted. "Bro! What's wrong," Bo insisted slinging an arm on his shoulders as they kept moving. He looked over at Bokuto's wholesome, worried pout. He couldn't keep anything from Bo. "I don't know man. It's- I know it's dumb but I just," he started and bit his tongue.

He felt like the world was suddenly so much bigger. He felt so small and insignificant for once in the grand scheme of things. What if he ended up just being some guy she was friends with in high school?

"It just sucks. Feelings suck and I don't want them," Kuroo declared trying to keep from tanking the fun everyone seemed to be having any further. "Stop worrying about things so much. Focus on what you can do right now and you'll buy yourself time to sort it out," Akaashi offered. "That sounds like a pretty good plan. Actually! Dai asked a favor. He said one of his players isn't progressing with the team and if anything he's digging his heels in. You mind helping me trying help me figure out how the kid ticks," Kuroo asked.

"OH! Count me in! Karasuno's been pretty fun to watch," Bokuto exclaimed.

~Your POV~

"How was Kiyoko," Yukie asked. "Dude she's still straight," Kaori said. "I can dream," she sighed. You chuckled feeling a bit more at ease after your venting session on the roof. "You seem more laid back, Yukie said eyeing you suspiciously. "She let me talk some shit out while we moved some things. Didn't realize how overwhelmed I was," you admitted.

"Sorry if we were coming off too strong," Kaori apologized. "Nah! You're all good," you reassured. "Hey, Was it just me or did Kuroo seem off earlier," Yukie asked.

"That was actually what I was I stressing over. He's been off the past few days," you shared. "Off how," Kaori asked. "Distant, spacey. The rest of the guys have definitely picked up on it. He was messing up sets and missing blocks. Every time before he's talked to me, Kenma, and Yaku. This time he hasn't talked to me at least. I can't tell if the others have gotten through to him," you shared.

"Oh, so this is like an issue, issue," Yukie inquired. "For now I guess. I'm sure he'll be fine, I just wish he'd let us in more you know. He's always there for us. I wouldn't even be here at this camp if it wasn't for him. I'd probably be running around Tokyo, stirring up trouble, getting suspended," you shared. "You seem so tame though," Yukie said. Kaori whacked her arm. "Ow," Yukie mumbled. "I've been domesticated," you teased laughing.

~~~~~

"Yeah! And then Akaashi finally lost his patience with the kid and said go ahead," Kaori said in peals. You were laughing hysterically as you all shared stories of the dumb shit your teams did. Tears were starting to build up in your eyes as you had to pause on dicing the carrots for the stew. "I take that and raise you the time Yamamoto tried to fight Tetsurou over food, and I mean an actual fist fight," you shared.

"He what," Yukie asked wheezing. "I ended up socking him right in jaw and he cried tears of joy. For like three days after Tora kept asking me to hit him," you shared. Yukie let out a scream before cackling which made you and Kaori start laughing harder. You snorted and covered your mouth with the back of your hand. The entire room fell silent before you all started cackling.

You looked up seeing Tetsurou and Bokuto in the doorway. "Hey! Hey! HEEEEEYYY! You guys look like you're having fun," Bokuto cheered and set the box in his hands down before running to hug Kaori and Yukie.

"Hey, Tets," you greeted as you looked back to see him smiling as he watched Bokuto. He looked at you a bit startled and coughed before nodding. He went right to work after giving a small wave with a forced smile. Still kind of odd, but it was better. You set the knife down and turned just as Bokuto pulled you into a bone crushing hug.

"Jeez, try not to crush my lungs too much," you laughed through your strained vocal chords. "Oh! Sorry," Bokuto laughed setting you down. "You gonna help out or what you bird brain," Tets teased. The casual smirk returned to his face. It felt like a lifetime since you had seen it. You bit down the relieved smile trying to carve it's way onto your face as Bokuto started to bicker back.

You went back to dicing the carrots, taking in the light hearted chaos. You set down the knife to start putting everything into the stew. A hand rested on your shoulder and you knew who it belonged to before your eyes shot up to meet the familiar amber ones belonging to Tetsurou. He seemed hesitant and scared, though most of his expression did well to hide this.

"Hey," he said gently. "Hi, what's up," you asked, greeting him with as much warmth as you could. There was something going on and if he even considers for a second he might be a burden he'll never open up.

His hand lingered on your shoulder as if he was using you as some sort of tether while his free hand scratched his cheek. Uncertainty filled his expression, body language, and eventually voice, "Um... cou-uh- could we talk later? I just want to properly apologize for making you worry at all these past few days." "Yeah sure," you agreed, "On one condition." His eyes widened as he seemed to panic.

"You at least tell me part of what's actually been going on with you. Please," you pleaded. His expression faltered for that same guarded one you had been seeing. His hand let go of your shoulder as if to give physical space, but a look of determination crossed his face before you could properly react.

His hand reconnected with your upper arm. He gave a firm nod. "And please for the love of-, don't get carried away worrying about whatever it is during the rest of practice today because, Nekomata will kill us both," you teased lightly, punching his other arm.

He just kept his eyes locked on yours as a genuine smile crossed his face. "We'll see Quinine-chan," he replied. You smiled back, relieved to hear the old nickname. "Get a move on kitty-cat or Kai's going to get too comfortable in your spot," you warned. "He wouldn't fucking dare," Tets declared, letting go, to leave. "I dunnoooo," you sang waving as he and Bokuto waved goodbye.

"Excuse me," Yukie inquired once they were gone. "What," you asked trying to busy yourself with work to hide the blush on your cheeks. "What a sweet little moment," Kaori teased and you flipped her off before she added, "Of romance!" "Suzumeda," you yelped, now blushing furiously.

~~~~~

You walked to one of the doors to try and clear out the gyms. Before you called out you noticed who was playing. Tetsurou managed a block with one of Suga's problem children, Tsukishima. Hinata who was on Bokuto and Akaashi's side spotted you first.

"(Y/L/N)-SENPAI," he exclaimed. You waved. "Hey kid," you greeted. The others whipped around at the sound your voice. "Clean up and clear out. Dinner's ready and Tanaka, Noya, Tora and Daichi have already ran over. There might not be much left soon," you warned. Bokuto, Lev and Hinata began scrambling. Tsukishima seemed be studying the dumbstruck face of Tetsurou.

Bokuto waved excitedly as he jumped up and down by the store closet. He started asking about Yukie, and Kaori, and your day. "Bokuto-san," Akaashi scolded. He started saying more after you just waved back at Bokuto. You nodded to Tsukishima and waved at Tetsurou before walking for the door. "If I come back in fifteen and you shitheads are still here, I'll kick your asses," you threatened with the full intensity of your glare. They all paled to a degree at the new drastically different expression. "Uh-oh, demon (Y/l/n)-Senpai," Lev worried. You laughed walking out.

~~~~~

You finished locking up the gyms and met the managers in the kitchen to eat the portions you had stored for yourselves. You were sitting between Yachi and Yukie. Yachi was yelping as Yukie started talking about anything she could think of to fluster the other girls.

You started laughing and joined in from time to time laughing at all the yelps.

"You two are truly something else," Eri pouted flustered. You just glanced sideways at Yukie with a grin that must have matched her predatory, sharky, smile. 

"Hey, that storm you asked about seems to be starting roll in if you want to watch it," Suga's voice suddenly spoke behind you. You jumped up scarfing down the rest of your bowl, choking out a thanks though a mouthful of food. "What's with the hurry," Mako asked. "Tradition. Always find a way to watch a storm," your blurted and took off to try and scramble to the bath to be ready for when the storm rolled in. 

~~~~~

You were walking out of your room when you bumped into someone. The heat gave away who, right away. You looked up to see Tetsurou with damp hair. It wasn't quite as unruly yet as it was half dry. "Hey, I was just looking for you," you said as he stared down, seemingly dumbstruck. 

Thunder crashed outside and he tensed. You grabbed his arm and led him through the halls for a private place to chat while not being too far from the rooms. "Where are we going," he asked. "Do you trust me," you asked taking the flight of stairs. He didn't answer, but his hand slid into yours as if to let you lead him. 

You smiled as you made it to the roof. You noticed him linger closer to your side. The awning provided shelter for the potted plants that you had helped Sugawara and Kiyoko move during the venting session. "Isn't this a little unsafe. I-I don't think we're supposed to be up here.

"It's perfectly safe. I'll handle any sticklers for the rules. You seemed kind of serious about that talk, so I figured you'd prefer somewhere more private, but we can head back in if you need to," you offered. His hand just held on tighter as his eyes flickered around uncertain. His eyes locked back onto yours and he opened his mouth to speak but closed it. 

Thunder roared in the distance but he didn't even react, seeming lost in thought. You couldn't bite back the smile at how he hyper focuses. He looked back up and looked confused. 

"What," he asked. "Nothing," you replied quickly. He sighed exasperated but nodded, "This is fine."

~~~~~

You looked over at how nearly comical he looked with his legs draped over the side of the sofa. His head was propped up in your lap as he tried to organize his thoughts. It was evident this was difficult for him, but you didn't mind the free time to brush your fingers through his drying hair.

He opened and closed his mouth for the fifth time in the past minute. "Tets, spit it out. Whatever it is, I can handle it," you promised. "It- I know it's dumb and irrational though," he sighed. "It doesn't mean it isn't bothering you," you pointed out. "I-I guess it's one part being jealous the other being scared," he admitted.

How the fuck was Suga right? "Why don't you look surprised," he asked. "I might have worried aloud to Kiyoko and Suga because Kenma and Yaku looked exhausted already. They kind of suggested that might be a possibility," you shared and rubbed your cheek anxiously, "I guess I'm kind of at fault for not taking that suggestion so seriously when they brought it up." 

He looked at you confused. "I jus- I never thought you'd have anything be jealous of," you admitted. "I appreciate your faith in me but I'm still a dumbass," he replied relaxing. You chuckled and stopped combing through his hair just letting your hand sit. "So why were you jealous and scared," you asked, gently. 

He looked away, his smile dimming. Lightening lit up the sky and his head snapped up to look at the lip sheltering you from the weather. He sat up avoiding, looking at you. "It's getting late," he started. 

"Kuroo, Tetsurou you are not running away from this conversation. I swear to god I'll kick your ass, just tell me what's wrong," you scolded. Thunder cracked closer to the school and he blurted, "I'm scared of losing you to Sugawara!"


	11. Talk To the Rooster Boy

You stared at him dumbfounded. The back of his head hid his confession. "I-I don't understand," you admitted. Jealous of-? Scared of... losing?...me? "I-I'm not going anywhere," you tried to reassured. "I know," he said quietly, "I just-..." You wanted to reach out but you didn't know if that would help or make things worse.

"I'm really glad and so proud that you're making friends and getting on with everyone so well. I guess I just... I kind of got jealous with how easy it was for them to get you to open up and I don't know, I guess I just got scared of getting left behind or replaced again," he said softly, "I didn't want to talk to you about it, because I didn't want you to... I don't know... worry, feel bad?"

You sat up and wrapped your arms around him. He shifted to hug back. "No one could ever replace you, Tetsurou," you insisted. His frown remained etched into his face as he turned his head to look at you.

His expression was sad and defeated as you tried to ignore the pounding in your chest from the close proximity.

"(Y/n)," he started seriously, "You've only known me what... two? Two and a half months? We graduate next spring. The likelihood tha-." You cut him off by punching his chest. He lurched forward wide eyed as he started coughing.

"Ow what the hell," he demanded. "You know how you over-think physics," you asked. He just looked at you bewildered and confused before flopping his head on your shoulder to recover.

"You're over thinking it. The end of high school will only be the end of our friendship if you let it be. But I'll have you know you're not getting rid of me without a fight," you declared. His hand rested on your shoulder as he tried to push his torso up. You might have hit him harder than you intended.

You waited for him to meet your gaze. "If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be who I am right now. Even only after two months. I l-," you said and caught the words about to fall off of your tongue. You pressed your lips together to try and force them back in. You had almost fucking confessed. You took a deep breath, trying to quickly recover, "I literally can not imagine my life without you in it now."

You watched his mind race behind his eyes and ducked your head a bit embarrassed. Your eyes widened, your cheeks burned as he tucked some of your hair behind your ear. Your eyes snapped up as his hand rested on your cheek. Your heart was beating so fast, you thought it would explode. He opened his mouth to speak and the heavy metal door that lead back inside shifted.

You both snapped apart looking to the entrance petrified. You locked eyes with Akaashi who just blinked before shutting the door. "I-um... I'm going to go see...," Kuroo started and trailed off awkwardly. "Uh-huh," you choked out as your voice caught in your throat. He left as you forced a smile

~~~~~

"You're still up here," asked a smooth voice. You nodded hugging your knees to you chest. Kuroo had texted you that Bokuto needed help with something, so you stayed to watch the storm alone.

"The managers are worried about you," Sugawara said taking a seat beside you. He had pulled up one knee, getting comfortable in your peripheral. "I'm ok, I just like watching storms," you shared. "I always liked storms too. Growing up I'd run to a window and throw it open to listen and paint or read the day away if I could," Suga shared.

You smiled softly, watching light ripple across the clouds like quick flashes.

"My dad used to tell me stories about how my mom did the same. He said he used to be indifferent about storms until he saw how excited and content she would get," you shared.

You looked at your knees a bit surprised. That was something you had only told Tetsurou and Azuna. You had been more open, a lot faster with this group.

"Hey, did rooster head finally talk to you," Suga asked. You nodded. "You and Kiyoko were right. He said he knew it was irrational, but he jealous I've been so open with you guys, and that he was scared he'd be left behind or replaced," you shared. Suga hummed and remained quiet.

"Why must we be attracted to sweet dumb idiots," he asked softly. You let a laugh loose. "Honestly, I talked to Dai and he thought I had a thing for you too," Suga shared. "Does he know you don't swing that way," You questioned. Suga snorted in reply as if to say hell no.

"You're going to have to tell him eventually," you pointed out. "No," he sang. "Don't be a little bitch. Tell Dai how you feel or at least that you're not straight," you called out. "As soon as you confess to rooster head," Suga countered. "He has life things I don't want to add to that stress," You defended. "And I have cultural things that kinda dislike the whole... you know... not hetero thing," Suga countered.

"Touché," you nodded.

"He likes you, you know," Suga said.

A bolt of lightning trailed from the sky to the ground a bout a mile away.

You couldn't deny it. It wasn't so impossible, but you definitely still felt the doubt in your heart.

"I'm scared you're right," you admitted softly, "I almost said it myself." "What's scaring you," Suga asked. His tone was gentle but unreadable. The silence that fell after was unbearable.

"What if it doesn't work out? What if I lose the first friend and person that gets me like he does? What if I hurt him? I don't-," you started worrying and Suga placed a hand on your back before rubbing soothing circles.

"I'm giving you a warning this time because you're new, but if you keep that negative bullshit up I will hit you," he warned.

"Suga," you demanded a bit shocked by the calm and sweet delivery of the threat.

He sighed sitting forward. "You know I'm jealous too, but in a different way," he said point blank, "You have a shot with the guy you like and the only pressure is from your own dumbass head. Squander this and it's on sight I swear on my life." He started laughing and you felt a smile crack onto your own face.

"You're over thinking it. It's clear you two have chemistry, your communication isn't shit, you understand each other on a deeper level, and you both clearly like each other. So what if there might be things that can go wrong? That's life. You'll get through it," Suga shrugged as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

You sighed nodding to yourself. "You're right," you agreed.

"Ye-wait. What? I a- Y-Yep! Yes! I am," Suga stammered.

"I'm going to tell Kuroo how I fell."

"Oh my god! Wait! Really? Why the change of heart, (Y/n)? I mean that's awesome!"

"Because once I talk to rooster boy you cant say shit back while I try to get you to talk to Daichi," you replied with a smug smile.

Panic settled into the setter's eyes. Red flooded his cheeks. "I take back everything I said. No don't do the things," he panicked. You laughed maniacally and chopped his side.

~~~~~

"Dude it's the last day, are you doing this or not," Sugawara hissed. "Doing what," Yukie asked with Yachi and Kaori at her side. "NOTHING," you and Sugawara panicked. Fukurodani's manager's narrowed their eyes.

"Hey! Hey! HEEYYY!!! Did you guys see that last set!? That cross shot I did was pretty good, huh? Huh," Bokuto asked as he bounced over. You had grown accustomed to him quickly. His mood swings weren't terrible even though all of Fukurodani seemed to disagree. As long as you stayed pretty positive and engaged he seemed to mirror it.

"Dude it was so cool," you complimented, jumping up for a double high-five. His hands slammed into yours and you immediately felt the sharp sting burn across your palms. "Ehhhh it was a fluke," he said feigning some bashfulness. "Fluke my ass you're one of the top high school aces in all of Japan," you praised. Akaashi gave a grateful half smile through his tired gaze.

You glanced to see Konoha talking to Kaori as Yukie was trying... and failing at flirting with Kiyoko and Yachi.

"Don't boost his ego too much," Tets said ruffling Bokuto's hair. You caught him eyeing Sugawara a bit hesitantly. You glanced over to see Suga spaced out watching Daichi talk to a Mako.

You elbowed Suga and snapped the silver haired setter out of his daze.   
"Hey can you go ask Mako if she wants me to take clean up for lunch today and I'll trade her for gym lock up," you asked. "Yeah sure," Suga agreed and waved to the other two boys.

"What was that," Tetsurou asked. "Looks like he has a crush," Bo sang. "No bigger than yours on Akaashi, Bo," you countered to steer the conversation away.

Bokuto started making panicked, distress-fueled noises. You laughed with Tets as the owl-esque boy turned cheery red and tried to hide his face. "Bokuto-san, we've been dating for six months," Akaashi reminded exasperated. Bokuto only squealed in panic, causing Tets and yourself to erupt further into laughter.

Bokuto started trying to defend himself with Akaashi. A towel whacked your face and you pouted in Tetsurou's direction. You had to at least ask him to talk. You could do ti. You could do it. Just ask him to talk.

"Last match, before barbecue," Nekomata called.

The coach cut you off just as you opened your mouth. You forced a smile and nodded for him to go. Your eyes followed hopelessly as the dread built up in the pit of your stomach trying to burn its way through. He's been so happy since that talk. It's so obvious he's happy having, you with him, Akaashi, Bo, and Kenma. You were so scared of dimming that smile even just a little bit.

"Yeah I'm down to switch," Mako's voice said, startling you. You jumped to see her standing at your side. "Jesus christ dude," you complained, "You scared me!" "Not my fault you were distracted," she said with a cheeky grin. You rolled your eyes unable to fight off the smile, "Yeah, yeah. Help me with these."

"You do it yet," she whispered. "No, Nekomata called them back before I could," you whispered.

~~~~~

You walked to the field, scrambling to keep up with the madness the barbecue was bringing. Ukai and Nekomata had been messing with you and while it was funny, you were tired and you still had yet to talk to Tetsurou.

A hand patted your head and you looked up see a pitiful smile on Suga's face. "I will sub in for you, go talk to rooster boy," he offered. "Really," you asked perking up. He laughed nodding and took the plates and chopsticks from you. "Thank you," you exclaimed.

~~Kuroo~~

He looked at the text glaring back at him. A million thoughts started to flood his mind again.

Sobo: I'm sorry honey, but you need to come home right after camp... we need to talk about some things. I might not have been completely honest.

She had to be talking about why she went to get checked up on again. He knew that crash was worse than she let on. Guilt gnawed away at his stomach as he thought back on the fun he was having while his grandmother could have been seriously hurt or something.

He leaned against the outside wall of the gym when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked up and pulled the psp from his pocket handing it back to Kenma. "You okay," Kenma asked. "Yeah," Kuroo tried to shrug off. Kenma's face showed how little he believed him.

He opened his mouth to downplay the worry again when a new voice cut him off. "Uh... hey. Um, Tets can I talk to you? I need to pick your brain about something," (Y/n) questioned hesitantly. His head whipped over to see her standing, slightly guarded. She looked scared. He nodded quickly worried something had happened. She waved awkwardly to the others and took his wrist.

He followed her to a more secluded area. Worst case scenarios ran through his mind. Things like her being scared to tell him she like Sugawara, her having to move, or someone having tried something with her, and the likes.

"Are you okay? Did something happen," he asked. She took a deep breath facing him. "I promised I would do this before camp ends a-and I'm just going to do, I'm going to rip off the band aid and I'm sorry if this is selfish or changes things but I can't keep it in anymore and I can't keep running from these feelings," she said.

His brain shut off entirely. He was frozen in place, his mouth slightly agape.

His head started spinning. Whatever she had said next bounced off of him, never reaching his ears. He felt dizzy, and numb around his jaw. Spots started to cloud his peripheral. His heart was pounding and he started to recognize what was going on.

Shit, not now, not here. "I'm- I'm so sorry. Can we table this," he strained. He looked to see her face sink for a moment. "Um... I-.. yeah," she muttered weakly. He tried to force out an apology before ducking out.

~Your POV moments before~

"--And I can't keep running from these feelings," you spit out. The courage was quickly fading. His expression filled with pure shock. His eyes were wide and intense as his mouth was hanging lightly open.

This is bad.

This is so bad.

This is like worst case scenario bad.

"I-... like you, Tetsurou. Like I have feelings for you," you managed to strain. His expression softened before before he strained in response, "I'm- I'm so sorry. Can we table this?" Your heart sunk. "Um... I-.. yeah," you managed to get out. You stared at the wall as Tetsu- Kuroo... as Kuroo swiftly walked away.

Your eyes burned as your mind struggled to play catch up. It almost refused to process what just happened. Table the chat? What does he mean by that? Does he really need that much time to reject you?

You took a deep breath and slapped your cheeks. You have a job to do. You said. It's out there. That's all you can control. You can deal with it later. You're okay. You're fine. You're fine. Sure your chest aches, you're a little panicked about the state of your friendship and future of you relationship with Kuroo but you were alive and breathing right? You still had friends, a roof over your head, it's just a boy. It's okay. Everything is okay.

You turned on your heel and squared your shoulders back. You were fine. Chin up. You're fine.

You felt the weight of the heart broken and curious stares from the managers, your team, and Bokuto and Akaashi. Somehow they all knew. You got right back to work and the others seemed hesitant whenever you approached. It always seemed like they wanted to say something or ask something, but they never did. Kenma and Akaashi held suspicious and curious stares that burned holes through your flesh.

You felt exposed and on display.

A hand rested on your back. You looked up to see Kiyoko. "I need a hand with the pots on the roof," Kiyoko said with a knowing expression. "I'm a little wrapped up here," you stated. "I can take it up," Yachi and Yukie blurted out. You looked over to see a supportive smile from the other managers. You sighed nodding.

~~~~~

You looked out at the sky, watching the clouds float by. "Table it," Kiyoko asked. "Yup," you nodded. The tears threatened to spill over. She sighed shaking her head. "He really is an idiot," she said with a deep rooted frown.

"I shouldn't hav-," you started.

your voice caught as the damn broke. Your chest hurt. It hurt so much. You wanted him to show up and just hold and comfort you, but the reality that you probably drove him away too started to seep in. Your lip quivered and the tears started to spill over.

You tried to wipe them away with the heel of your palm. "I'm sorry," You muttered. She remained quiet as she rubbed circles in your back. "Fuck, I really hate crying," you muttered trying sniffle back your now running nose. You especially hated crying over boys. It felt so useless. There were people who had it worse.

"You just went through something pretty rough and you're probably feeling a lot right now. This is normal," Kiyoko reassured softly. You nodded quietly not wanting to argue with Kiyoko. She was pretty level headed. You didn't hate it any less either though.

~Kenma a few moments prior~

"What happened there," Akaashi muttered as Kiyoko guided (Y/n) inside. Kuroo still hadn't come back from their chat, which definitely seems to have left their manager shaken. "No clue," Kenma admitted.

He could only speculate that one of them confessed and it didn't go well. Where the hell was his idiot best friend?

Bokuto came bounding over. "Hey! Where's Kuroo? I overheard Kaori and Yukie saying he rejected (Y/n)'s confession. I can't really believe it, with how into her he is," Bokuto blabbed, entering emo mode for his friend. "I'll find him," Kenma said quickly. He needed to talk to the idiot first.

~~~~~

He couldn't find Kuroo around the barbecue and he was starting to worry.

A text came in.

Idiot Best Friend: Sorry for leaving you alone. Felt a panic attack or fainting spell starting. In third gym.

Kenma recognized the speech to text. Kuroo's regular messages were horrible and borderline un readable unless you knew him.

A fainting spell or panic attack? He hasn't had one of those in years. What the hell happened? Kenma turned on his heel speeding for gym three and found Kuroo close to the entrance. Phone in hand, knees hugged to chest, a vacant look was on his face as his glazed over and unfocused eyes stared at something in the distance.

He looked like a kid again. A scared kid.

Kenma sat beside him and took out his PSP as he leaned against Kuroo, knowing the physical contact would help ground him. These had stopped around the same time his nightmares about his mom had stopped. Did the confession go that poorly? Why would he reject (Y/n) there were so many questions, but most pressing of all was "What set this off?".

~~~~~

Kenma looked over as Kuroo started to shift. "Kenma," he asked confused. "Since I found you, you've only been out of it for forty-five minutes. You do the breathing thing," Kenma asked. Kuroo nodded quietly.

"What triggered it," Kenma asked. Kuroo hand his phone over. Kenma eyed the text from his grandmother. His brows furrowed. Something was definitely serious and definitely wrong. Kenma couldn't help but worry and speculate the worst. He wasn't sure if Kuroo would be able to handle that.

He turned off the hand held console. "Do you remember your talk with (Y/n) at all," Kenma asked. "Uh s-sort of," he strained. His voice sounded croaky. "Did you mean to reject her confession," Kenma asked. "What," Kuroo asked going wide eyed before sitting to think. His eyes went wide with realization.

"Fuck," he muttered, hanging his head, "Could this get any worse?" "I died in my game trying to comfort you," Kenma retorted. Kuroo flicked Kenma's arm, and Kenma gave him a pass.

~~~~~

They gathered to get on the bus and (Y/n) was clearly upset. She was just as guarded as her first day at the school. Yaku and Kai seemed to be trying their best to talk to her, but her responses were so dry.

Azuna was going to take this pretty hard. He texted her a heads up. As much as he wanted to see her, their best friends needed them.

He watched Inuoka, Lev, Shibiyama and Tora try to cheer her up. There was a forced half smile before she put in her headphones.

Kenma looked back at Kuroo to observe the state his best friend was in. Kuroo was just as bad. If he wasn't careful he might worry himself to the point of another panic attack.

Kenma tugged on Kuroo's shirt to try and pull this idiot back down to earth as he watched his heart shatter. Kuroo seemed to tear his eyes away to look back at Kenma. "I need your help with this level," Kenma said. Kuroo nodded as they quietly shuffled onto the bus Kenma got them their old go to seat in the back of the bus.

Kuroo had almost entirely back to the same kid Kenma had first met. This one was going to take a while to fix.

Kuroo quietly took the console Kenma held out and read it over. Instead of doe eyed and afraid he just looked tired now. They had both grown up so much.

Kuroo might have been quite and unreadable to most, but to Kenma his thoughts and emotions were screaming. Kenma could almost physically see the disarray and chaos in his best friend's mind.

"Hey if you want you can come over or I can stay overnight tonight if you want," Kenma offered. Kuroo hummed sounding uncertain. That was usually a I need to play it by ear. Kenma nodded knowingly and they fell back into silence.

It was a bit jarring to have him around people and not be so obnoxious. Kenma had just gotten too comfortable with Kuroo being the socialite. Sure he was quieter and more secluded one on one. Kenma knew better than anyone just how introverted Kuroo could be if left to his own devices.

But those quiet moments were the ones done alone, when people got close enough to see behind the dick head he tried to pretend he was. Having quite Kuroo in a setting were he'd normally be all loud and parental.... it felt wrong.

Kenma glanced up feeling eyes on him. Yaku and Kai looked worried and desperate. (Y/n), was in the seat in front of them. She was glaring out the window or at her own reflection. Headphones were still in. The anger was starting to soften and selfishly Kenma prayed for Kuroo's sake that it didn't let up. He couldn't even predict how the stupid hyena would react.

Kenma just shrugged at Yaku and Kai. The two turned back to each other, whispering softly. The others were starting to nod off.

~Azuna~

She stood at the school with the group of parents. She was retreading her phone for the millionth time as Kenma gave another run down of everything he knew.

(Y/n) confessed. Kuroo panicked. They're both messed up right now. It felt like there was something she was missing but she wouldn't press.

.... Yet.

She looked over as someone stood anxiously beside her. "O-oh. Hello," Azuna greeted Kuroo's father. The dark haired man didn't seem to take notice. It wasn't like him to be so standoffish. Azuna watched him pace as he seemed enveloped by his phone. He seemed to have hardly gotten any sleep.

Azuna's head snapped up as she looked at the bus rolling in. (Y/n) was one of the first ones off. She was pulled aside by Yaku. Azuna scanned the crowd seeing Kuroo getting pulled aside by Nekomata. He looked really rough. 

She looked over surprised to feel arms wrapped around her. "Sorry for changing plans last minute," Kenma said softly and let go. "It's okay. The idiots need us right now," Azuna reassured. He sighed nodding and looked back at them both. "I'm going to go wrangle Kuroo," Kenma grumbled. "We'll figure something out after," Azuna shrugged off.

~~~~~

Once they stepped inside the apartment, (Y/n) sat at the kitchen counter as the hollow expression started to sour and contort. Azuna felt panic in her heart. Her chest tightened seeing her friend so distraught. Azuna flung her arms around her as (Y/n) started crying.

"I shouldn't have listened to Suga and the managers. I messed it up. I messed it all up," she choked out.


	12. Rooster Boy SOS

~Kenma~

It had been two days since coming back from camp. Azuna was planning for the dance that was in two weeks. Volleyball had started back up and Kenma had tried desperately to tell Kuroo to stay home and take care of himself. Of course the idiot didn't listen. He still hadn't talked about what his grandmother told him.

(Y/n) had also showed up. The two were avoiding each other like the plague. (Y/l/n) had taken to not talking. She really only spoke when absolutely necessary and often only to Nekomata. Kuroo was constantly spacing out and just watching her, heart broken.

~~~~~

It was four days of that routine now and neither were getting better. "Okay, we have to step in," Kai declared. "This is kind of ridiculous," Yaku agreed. "Kuroo will have a panic attack," Kenma stated point blank as a warning. "What," the two third yeas asked turning to him.

"If we try to force them to talk," Kenma explained, "He'll end up having a panic attack. Especially if the confrontation is done in public." There was just silence before a tired sigh. "I'll talk to (Y/n)," Kenma sighed, "Just stall Kuroo after practice." Yaku nodded, looking startled.

Kenma found (Y/n) filling the waters. She looked so tightly wound that she might snap. "Hey," Kenma said. Dread filled his stomach. He was silently praying she wouldn't lash out at him. He knew this was in both of their best interests, but holy fuck did he hate the idea of confrontation.

Her eyes lifted still staring opposite his direction, before flittering down. So she heard him at least.

"He's an idiot. Whatever he said he wasn't thinking," Kenma started and she scoffed shaking her head with a pissed off smile but Kenma continued, "Please talk to him." "I appreciate you looking out for your friend, but I can't," she strained. "He was having a panic attack. I heard what happened from eavesdropping on Yachi and Sugawara. He didn't hear you," Kenma explained.

"Panic attack," she asked with a sudden change in tone, "What happened?" "Ask him," Kenma said plainly. The worry dropped to an unamused glare. She sighed and glanced past Kenma into the gym. "I hate you both," she muttered, "But fine. I'll talk to him."

~Your POV~

You took in a breath and walked up to Kuroo and Yaku. "Kuroo," you said to make your presence known. His head whipped at the speed of lightening to lock eyes with you. Why were you doing this again? Why were you letting him break your heart again? "Are you free to talk," you asked against your better judgement.

His eyes scanned your face panic was set behind them. His mouth was open to say something but no sound came out. He firmly shut it and nodded silently. You nodded for him to follow and made your way outside. Something was definitely up with him.

The school was open for a few clubs and you walked into the staircase to make sure no one would be listening in. You climbed up and sat down at the first landing. "What's going on with you," you asked as he sat beside you, "And what's this about you having a panic attack?"

"I-," he started just staring at you shocked at first. You fully met his gaze and the deer in headlights look dropped for a heart wrenching expression of being lost and hurt. You couldn't help but think back to that night of the dance. the same urge to pull him into your arms and protect the person so unaccustomed to being taken care of the he genuinely thought you would have left him alone.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't- I didn't meant to- I never wanted to hurt you," he blurted out. Staying mad was going to be impossible. His breathing already started to sound ragged as he tried to hold back everything he was feeling.

"Kuroo, I told you I liked and you asked to table that talk," you shared still feeling hurt. You sighed as Kenma's words hit you again. "Why didn't you say you were having a panic attack," you asked. "If I had known-." You cute your self off and sighed not wanting to let him know how hurt you had been the last few days with the state he was in.

"I didn't want to worry you," he said weakly. "For someone so incredibly smart, you're logic is really fucking dumb sometimes," you said point blank.

You turned your body to him ignoring the ache creeping into your back slowly. You shifted to accommodate it.

"I hate that I can't stay mad at you," you dragged your hands down your face trying to collect your emotions, "Talk to me before I change my mind and I hit you." "I got a text from my grandmother that something was wrong," he shared and his voice cracked. All of your anger dissipated.

"Fuck," he muttered as his breathing turned into hyperventilating. You got up and crouched in front of him as he curled in on himself. His hands were shaking like crazy. "Hey, hey. Tets! Look at me. Look at me. You're okay. It's okay. You're safe. I'm right here," you tried to reassure, "You need to breathe."

This is probably going to end poorly.

You closed the distance pulling him into a kiss. He froze, his breathing included. You pulled back and his eyes stared at you in shock as he slowly started to come down from the panic attack. You ignored his expression just trying to talk him down. It took about twenty minutes to ground him after and get his breathing back to normal.

"What just happened," he mumbled. "I saw it in a tv show. Apparently holding your breath is supposed to help, but you were panicking too much to do it on your own," you shared.

You sat back down beside him. He held onto your hand staring ahead. "I've liked you for a while," he said softly. His thumb started tracing back and forth across the back of your hand. "I'm sorry about everything," he started, "You deserve to like someone who isn't such a mess." "It's a little late for that tiger," you countered.

His amber eyes locked onto yours and he leaned over, closing the distance to press a kiss to your lips. It was gentle and sweet. His free hand caressed your cheek as you kissed back.

You both pulled apart and rested your foreheads together. "I need you to talk to me about what's going on. I don't have anything happening today. If you need to talk about it somewhere else, that's okay," you offered. "Would it be okay if we went back to your apartment? I feel like I can't breathe in my house right now," he shared.

You nodded not pressing right away.

You pressed a kiss to his forehead and he rested his forehead on your shoulder after. Seeing him hurt like this wrenched your heart, worse than him hurting you. "You okay to walk," you asked softly. He nodded against your shoulder standing up. You followed suit, his hand was still clutching onto yours.

~~~~~

You opened the door and Reginald all but flung himself at Kuroo, pulling out a tired smile from the boy. You both walked to your room so you could rest your back. His arms wrapped around you as he practically laid on top of you. Your fingers combed through his hair. A pit of anxiety was gnawing through your stomach.

"She has cancer," Kuroo strained in a tiny hoarse voice.

The words seem to bounce off of you as shock set in. He held on tighter and started breaking down crying. You arms wrapped around him as firmly as possible, trying to hold him together.

"It's not fair," he murmured through a stuffed nose into your shoulder. His tears soaking into your shirt. "Tetsurou, I'm so sorry," you mumbled still in shock.

Your arms braced behind him, almost cradling him in a protective shield.

His grandmother meant the world to him and sure he over thought things but he was optimistic, for him to break down like this... it had to be worse than bad. You payed attention to his breathing as he continued to sob. Your heart shattered into a million pieces.

"I- she went- it showed up in the scans from the wreck. She apparently went back for them to see what it was while we were at camp," he tried to explain through ungraceful snivels, a croaking voice, and countless voice hitches.

"Stage four pancreatic cancer that's already metastasized. They can't- she won't-," he started hiccuping through his tears.

You started rubbing circles in his back as your other hand combed through his hair trying to calm him down slightly before he made himself sick. "They said- four- she has four months if she doesn't seek-," he choked out. You grimaced, a month before his birthday.

~~~~~

He had cried himself to sleep in your arms, working himself up so much that he exhausted whatever reserves he had been running on. You felt guilt gnaw at your stomach for being so selfish with your own emotions and not seeing something, so very wrong, sooner.

You pulled out your phone reassured by his soft snores and slow breaths. You started a new group chat where you put in Yaku, Azuna, Kenma, Akaashi and Bokuto. Rooster Boy SOS, was the running chat title.

"Um emergency meeting. it's abt Kuroo... idk what he's shared but we just talked. he's not okay. there's some serious family stuff going on don't make him talk about it if he hasn't already i just don't know what else to do other than let you guys know he might need us... he will need us. anything you can think of to cheer him up or take his mind off things every now and then would be greatly appreciated just please don't make it obvious if he thinks we're worried he'll think he's a burden and shut down"

Kenma was the first to respond at the speed of lightening.

"Is he still with you?"

"Yeah he fell asleep about a half hr ago"

You watched them all start to respond and plan things. They were sweet. They threw out the suggestions of drive ins, car rides, shopping, playing more volleyball. You couldn't help but worry they might overwhelm and exhaust him.

"Please remember he is an introvert who is already going to be emotionally drained. Space it out." Kenma sent as if reading your mind.

You looked back at the sleeping Kuroo. The soft neutral expression on his face was beautiful. You messaged his dad that he came over to work on the summer assignment and fell asleep, so they wouldn't worry.

He had been such a wreck over the car accident, but this... this was arguably the worst case scenario. What the hell would you say to make it better. You hadn't had to deal with a loss like this before. Thinking of him being in so mach pain brought the hot sting of tears to your eyes.

He was right it wasn't fair.

The cat jumped up and brushed it's head past Kuroo's shoulder. You wiped your eyes to compose yourself.

Kuroo's head lifted. He tensed up looking around. "I already texted your dad that you fell asleep," you reassured.

He hummed, still sounding out of it. "Thank you," he mumbled.

Your heart wrenched in your chest hearing the harsh graty tone to his hoarse voice. Your fingers tangled in his hair again as he relaxed into your frame.

If it were anyone else you would have said fuck it and never spoken to them again. You would have forgotten about it all and just let it fade away. But you couldn't do that with him.

Kuroo Tetsurou had weasled his way into your heart past all the defenses with his shitty chemistry jokes, and dumb goofy comebacks, and his stupid understanding nature and unrelenting persistence to take care of everyone he cares for.

He had crawled his way in and rip him out would utterly destroy you at this point. It was only a few months. In just a few months you couldn't imagine life without him and trying to push it away and cut him out inly destroyed you.

The last four days where the hardest four days of your life. Constantly reassuring yourself it was for the better. Azuna having to checking in nonstop as your psyche deteriorated seeing him spaced iut and lost and wanting answers but being too upset will will yourself to get them.

If Kenma hadn't stepped in today you probably would have lost it. You would have quit altogether and move away to your aunt in Brazil to put as much space between you and Kuroo Tetsurou as physically possible.

"(Y/n)," Tetsurou said squeezing your shoulder gently. "Sorry," you muttered realizing you must have spaced out. "You okay," he asked quietly. You nodded quietly, "Just processing life." "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"I wish it were under better circumstances, but I missed having you in my arms," you admitted.

His head shot up to look at you are realization crossed. "Wait a minute. Today... The kiss-..es. Oh my god that happened? That was real? We actually-? I actually started to actually have a panic attack in front of you?" His eyes went wide and they darted back and forth as if scanning something in his brain.

"Yup. All real. All happened." You replied a bit awkwardly, "And I confessed... again."

"I'm so sorry I'm the idiot you have the misfortune of liking. I know I said it earlier but even now kind of being more... with it?" Kuroo rambled.

"I think you're looking for the word lucid," You replied cheekily.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, "Yeah, smart ass. I like you. I've liked you. Actually probably since you called me out for calling you bitter."

The traces of the smile faded and he averted his eyes. "Um- but I'm scared. I don't- What happened today-," his voice caught on the lump in his throat and your eyes teared up in response.

You took a deep breath and rested a hand on his face, "I'm going to be here. For all of it. Whether you want me to or not. I care about you even if you aren't ready for a relationship I'm not going to leave you to deal with on your own. I promise."

He leaned his head into your hand solemnly saying, "That's too much to ask of you- It- I don't want to drag you down with me."

"It's too late for that," you said smoothing your thumb over his cheek, "I'm already teetering the border of that scary L-word and to get me here there's not getting rid of me now."

"Fuck," Tetsurou choked out laughing. The whole room lightened at the sound. You were in deep. You found yourself laughing with him as he propped himself up. He jsut stared into your eyes as you both came down from the laughing fit. "This has been nuts. We're nuts," he declared.

"You're just now realizing this? Where have you been these last few months?" You teased.

"Falling in love with you." he blurted before his eyes went so wide you through they'd fall out of his head. "Shit. I said that out loud!"

Your face started burning, "TETS!"

"I didn't mean to!" he panicked, "I know how big that is to you. I'm sorry! Do I unsay it? How do I unsay it?"

You started laughing.

"This is not funny! I'm very emotionally vulnerable right now! My nerves are shot!" he continued to panic.

"You're wonderful Kuroo Tetsurou," You said smiling at him sweetly.

The words stopped pouring from his mouth and he just stared in shock as his cheeks started turning a bright red. "You don't have to take it back. I'm just not ready to say it back yet," You explained.

He relaxed and smiled back, "Will you be my girlfriend at least? Because after the Suga incident I don't think I can handle see you with anyone else. Only if you really want to put up with me and... this chaos. And the heavy shit." He had muttered the end as the confidence faded from his voice.

"Yeah. I would love to be your girlfriend, through all of it," you replied. He leaned down pressing a kiss to your lips. "Thank you," he mumbled.

You burst out laughing, "Did you just thank me for dating you?"

"I was trying to be sweet!" He defended.

"You are such a fucking dork," you laughed. "But now I'm you're dork," he replied. "Stop I'm swooning," you teased. He leaned down to kiss you again. You kissed back and it felt familiar. Even though it was the fourth kiss it felt like you had always been this way with him.

The door opened and Azuna screeched before Tetsurou ripped himself up locking eyes with you. You both turned your heads to see Azuna in the doorway with Kenma in the hall behind her. "Told you we should have knocked," Kenma deadpanned.

"I forgot I gave you a spare," You muttered. "Um... it's not what it looks like?" Tetsurou said as more of a joke.

Azuna just looked at you both dumbfounded. "U- S- um... Sorry for interrupting? We came to check up on you guys um... Clearly everything is FINE! Thank you for not responding and worrying me."

Her shock subsided as Tetsurou rolled onto his side to keep from having to support his weight. Azuna began hitting you with one of your own pillows as Sir Reginald had ran off to Kenma's side.

"Ow! Fuck! Sorry! I was a little busy discussing emotions you know how dumb I am with that shit!" You defended and grabbed the pillow during her barrage of attacks. "That's why I came to check in on you when you stopped responding! I thought you might have done something dumb and self destructive!" Azuna shouted back.

"You would be very proud. Kenma would not, since I was the idiot this time," Tetsurou reported. "You're always an idiot," Kenma deadpanned. "You're a dick," Tetsurou pouted.

"Shut up and take another nap," You said to Tetsurou. Shot you glare. "You can't tell me what to do," he retorted. "Shut up and take a nap or I'll text Bokuto that you don't like his hair and don't know how to tell him," You threatened. "You wouldn't dare," Tetsurou gasped melodramatically.

"Yeah, you're both fine," Azuna said. "Hey! Why the tone," You called out. "WhY tHe ToNe," she mocked. "You're getting mighty fucking fiesty," you called out. "You're bad influence is rubbing off on me," she stated. "Quit corrupting Okimoto," Tetsurou said. "Hey! You're supposed to be on my side bedhead-kun," you defended.

"I have as many sides as a circle," he replied in a sleepy voice. "I hate you," you replied. Kuroo just kissed you cheek declaring, "No you don't."

"Kuroo," Kenma said and nodded to the hall. Kuroo nodded and pushed himself up, stretching as he stood before walking to Kenma.

You sat up as you watched him leave. Azuna took a seat beside you watching the boys. "How are you really," she asked quietly. "Aside from the emotional whiplash? Okay," you answered.

"He told you," she strained. You nodded solemnly. "Kenma told me," she replied softly. She sniffled and took a breath to keep herself together. "It was really good to see you two smile. I was starting to worry that I'd never get to see it again," she said partially joking. "I'm sorry for worrying you," you mumbled hugging her. "Don't apologize. I'll always worry," she reassured. "Likewise," you promised.

"How's he been," she asked curiously. You just sighed and shrugged. How do you even begin to describe it. "Okay but not okay," you replied. She hummed knowingly and nodded. "Remember you're not helping him alone, okay," Azuna pleaded. You nodded seeing the concern in her smile.

"Yaku couldn't come out but he said to do this in his honor," Azuna said before flicking your forehead. You pouted in response.

No matter how light the room became the looming, lurking shadow always seemed to be lingering. Always keeping a thin tether to the new reality that Tetsurou, if not careful, can turn into an emotional time bomb with the weight of the certainty that time was running out and there was nothing any of them could do.

"You know what Kenma wanted to talk to him about," you questioned Azuna curiously. "He's recommending his therapist, but according to Kenma it probably won't go great. Solely because Kuroo doesn't like admitting he needs help." 

"I'm dating an idiot. I'll try to get through to him I've been meaning to find one around here," you sighed. "You actually go to therapy," Azuna asked. "Why do you have to say it like that," you asked turning to face her before joking, "I'm too fucked up not to."

"At least your self aware," she teased before giggling. "I am so proud to be corrupting you," you declared.

~~~~~

The boy walked in and Tetsurou's eyes were redder. Kenma nodded to you before giving a look to Kuroo who nodded back quietly. Azuna pulled you into a hug and walked over to hug Kuroo too. He just looked down confused before she darted to Kenma's side. 

"Leave room for Jesus!" 

~~~~~

Tetsurou hadn't said anything since he returned from his talk with Kenma. He seemed deep in thought as he laid beside you. You shifted as your back started to ache and he seemed to snap from his daze. "Sorry," he mumbled. 

"Hey Tets," you asked. He hummed in response as you looked up to see him already looking at you. "You have to promise not to judge me," you started. he eyed you suspiciously not answering.

"Have you ever seen that American show, Bill Nye the Science Guy?" 

He furrowed his brows confused. You gasped melodramatically. "This is literally how I learned English. My dad got me the DVD box set for my birthday," You started and sat up excited. A lazy smile crossed his face. "You're a dork," he said pulling you into his chest before you could get up. 

"I'm playing this, you have to see it. I need you to trust me," you insisted. He pulled you in to kiss you and you all but melted. "Only, because you're so cute," he mumbled against your lips. He still looked so wholly exhausted, but you were determined to brighten his day just a little. Just one really good thing a day that he could hold onto. That was how you were going to take this. 

You smiled back and climbed up rushing over to grab it before bringing your laptop over and setting it up. 

When the intro rolled in you all but shouted it as Tetsurou teased you still holding onto you, a content smile lazily hung on his face.


End file.
